|
VENICE
Things to see - the city
Piazza San Marco
 This is one of the most famous piazzas in the world. Its history began in the ninth century, at which time it was chosen as seat of the Venetian government and the Doges’ Palace and Basilica of San Marco were built.
The piazza was at that time narrower than it appears today, although the lagoon still floods a large part of the present Piazzetta San Marco.
Its present appearance dates to the twelfth century when, at the height of its power, Venice wanted to create an architectonic space worthy of its fame.
The old church of San Geminiano was demolished and the Batario Canal filled in; the Basilica of San Marco was then enlarged, as was the Doge’s Palace.
Today the piazza is bordered by the Procuratie Vecchie (Old Law Courts) (sixteenth century), flanked by the Clock Tower with its statues of the Moors marking the hours, and on the opposite side, the Procuratie Nuove (New Law Courts, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries).
The eighteenth-century Napoleonic Wing is located on the shorter side, in front of the Basilica.
The Procuratie Vecchie, which once housed the attorneys’ homes, appears as an uninterrupted series of fifty arcades on ground level and one hundred windows in the two upper floors.
The attorneys of San Marco also resided in the Procuratie Nuove, an imposing structure with rows of doorways and two levels of loggia. When the Republic fell in 1797, the building was used as the Royal Palace.
The Napoleonic Wing finally was built by Napoleon Bonaparte to house a majestic ballroom. |
