P332 - Italy - Piazza San Marco in Venezia

Piazza San Marco and San Giorgio Maggiore, Venezia, Italy ( UNESCO WHS )

Piazza San Marco (often known in English as St Mark's Square), is the principal square of Venice, Italy.
A remark often attributed to Napoleon (but perhaps more correctly to Alfred de Musset) calls the Piazza San Marco "The drawing room of Europe". It is one of the few great urban spaces in a Europe where human voices prevail over the sounds of motorized traffic, which is confined to Venice's waterways. It is the only urban space called a piazza in Venice; the others, regardless of size, are called campi.
As the central landmark and gathering place for Venice, Piazza San Marco is extremely popular with tourists, photographers, and Venetian pigeons.
The Piazza originated in the 9th century as a small area in front of the original St Mark's Basilica. It was enlarged to its present size and shape in 1177, when the Rio Batario, which had bounded it to the west, and a dock, which had isolated the Doge's Palace from the square, were filled in. The rearrangement was for the meeting of Pope Alexander III and the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
The Piazza has always been seen as the centre of Venice. It was the location of all the important offices of the Venetian state, and has been the seat of the archbishopric since the 19th century. It was also the focus for many of Venice's festivals. It is a greatly popular place in Italy even today.


聖馬可廣場（義大利語：Piazza San Marco）是意大利威尼斯的中心廣場。在威尼斯，聖馬可廣場是唯一被稱為「Piazza」的廣場，其他的廣場無論大小皆被稱為「Campi」。聖馬可廣場在歐洲城市的廣場中是獨一無二的，它座落在市中心，卻不像其他廣場那樣受到交通的喧鬧，這歸功於威尼斯寧靜的水路交通。作為威尼斯的地標，聖馬可廣場受到遊客、攝影師和鴿子的格外青睞。19世紀法國皇帝拿破崙曾稱讚其為「歐洲最美的客廳」。


References sources : Wikipedia