Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco

St. Mark's Square
Piazza San Marco St. Mark's Square
Public square
	Piazza San Marco in 2021
Location	Venice, Italy
	; Click the map for an interactive, fullscreen view
	Coordinates: 45°26′2″N 12°20′17″E / 45.43389°N 12.33806°E

Piazza San Marco (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjattsa san ˈmarko]; Venetian: Piasa San Marco), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as la Piazza ("the Square"). The Piazzetta ("little Piazza/Square") is an extension of the Piazza towards San Marco basin in its southeast corner (see plan). The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are referred to together. This article relates to both of them.

A remark usually attributed (though without proof) to Napoleon calls the Piazza San Marco "the drawing room of Europe".^[1]

^ Margaret Plant has looked into the history of this "felicitous and much-used metaphor" but has to say that evidence for Napoleon's authorship is elusive. The earliest reference which she can quote is from a French guide book of 1844 which said (without citing any authority) that Napoleon said that the Piazza is a salon designed for the sky to serve as a canopy. See Plant, pp. 65–66

[1] Margaret Plant has looked into the history of this "felicitous and much-used metaphor" but has to say that evidence for Napoleon's authorship is elusive. The earliest reference which she can quote is from a French guide book of 1844 which said (without citing any authority) that Napoleon said that the Piazza is a salon designed for the sky to serve as a canopy. See Plant, pp. 65–66

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