Piazza San Marco and other Venice, Italy General Tips

Favorite Thing: St. Mark's Square is really the heart of Venice, mostly because of its location on the banks of the grand canal, and because of the great number of beautiful, historical monuments located there. Politically and culturally, St. Mark's Square has always been a very important and strategical area in Venice.

The piazza St. Marco, is the only square that is called a Piazza, the others are simply called "campo". It's much more than a simple city square, it's a symbol. The square is now "covered" with tourists and its famous pigeons which are a very integral part of the site. The square is lined with the buildings called the Procuratia, which housed the offices and apartments of high placed officials in the Venetian government. The "procuratie vecchie" date back to the 9th century, and were rebuilt in the 16th century


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Favorite Thing: Burano is a small island in the northern reaches of the Venetian lagoon, a forty-five-minute ride from Venice by vaporetto (water-bus). Known for its brightly colored houses & for its lace, Burano is a treat for the senses. Vibrant color is everywhere, Italian pizza wafts through the air, small family-owned cafes offer delectable meals, lacey linens feel cool & soft to the touch. But, best of all, the sounds of Burano offer a quiet playfulness compared to the crowded bustling of Venice.


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Favorite Thing: The Campanile di San Marco, or Belltower of St. Mark's, has stood for more than a thousand years--or for less than a century, depending on how you define "truth in advertising."

Although "campanile" means "bell tower," the Campanile di San Marco did double duty as a military watchtower when it was constructed in the 10th Century. Later, as the tower was expanded and refined, its bronze-sheathed roof caught the sun's rays and acted as a daytime beacon for mariners.

The Campanile received an overhaul in the early 1500s after being damaged by an earthquake, giving it the profile that we see today. It also received its share of historic visitors, including Galileo (who showed the Doge his famous telescope in 1609), Goethe (who viewed the Adriatic from the arched windows), and Emperor Frederick III of the Holy Roman Empire, who is said to have ridden his horse up the tower in 1452.


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