Piazza San Marco

Napoleon is said to have called Piazza San Marco the finest drawing room in Europe, and the description still fits. It is the only open space in Venice that is called a piazza — every other square is a campo, a field — and it is the ceremonial heart of the city, a great trapezoid of grey and white paving framed on three sides by long arcaded buildings and closed at the east end by the domes and gold mosaics of St Mark's Basilica. The Procuratie Vecchie on the north side and the Procuratie Nuove on the south once housed the procurators of St Mark, among the highest officials of the Republic; the western end, the Ala Napoleonica, was built under French rule and now contains the entrance to the Museo Correr. The Clock Tower, with its blue-and-gold astronomical dial and the two bronze Moors who strike the hours on the bell at the top, marks the start of the Mercerie, the old shopping street to the Rialto. Opposite, the Campanile rises over the square, and between the Basilica and the water opens the Piazzetta, with the Doge's Palace on one side, Sansovino's Marciana Library on the other, and the two granite columns of St Mark and St Theodore framing the view across the basin to San Giorgio Maggiore. Under the arcades, the historic cafés — Caffè Florian, open since 1720, Quadri and Lavena among them — set out tables where small orchestras play in the evenings. The square itself is free, open at all hours, and different at every time of day.

When to come: at midday in summer the piazza is crowded, hot and loud, and the cafés charge a surcharge for the music on top of already high prices. At dawn it belongs to the street sweepers and the pigeons — though feeding them is banned and fined — and at night, after the day-trippers have gone, the square is quiet, lit, and enormous. Those are the times to see it. Sitting at a café table with the orchestras is a once-in-a-lifetime extravagance for many visitors; if you do it, accept the bill as the price of the theatre. For a cheaper coffee, stand at the bar inside.

High water: the piazza is the lowest point in Venice, so it is the first place to flood when the tide is high, usually in autumn and winter. On those days raised walkways are set out and the water bubbles up through the drains, which is a spectacle in itself. Since 2020 the MOSE mobile barriers at the lagoon inlets have been raised against the highest forecast tides, and serious flooding of the square is much rarer, but moderate high water still happens. Check the tide forecast and pack a pair of waterproof boots in the colder months.

Rules and what to see around the edges: sitting on the steps of the monuments, eating picnics in the square and swimming or paddling are banned and fined, and the city has strict rules on dress and behaviour in the San Marco area. Group tours are limited in size and loudspeakers are banned. Inside the Procuratie Vecchie, restored and opened to the public after centuries as offices, there is an exhibition space by The Human Safety Net, and the Clock Tower can be visited on guided tours by reservation. From the Piazzetta, walk along the Riva degli Schiavoni for the view of the Bridge of Sighs, or catch a vaporetto from the San Marco landings.