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St Mark's Square, often known in English by its Italian name Piazza San Marco, is the town square of Venice, Italy.The Piazza is the only urban space big enough to be called a piazza in Venice: the rest are campi. It was the Romantic French poet Alfred de Musset who called it the "drawing-room of Europe". It is the only great urban space in a European city where the sound is of human voices talking.
The Square originated in the ninth 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 cut the Doge's Palace off, were filled in. The rearrangement was for the meeting of Pope Alexander III and the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
The Square 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 bishopric since the nineteenth century. It was also the focus for many of Venice's festivals. |
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