Viva Italia 2010: Piazza San Marco

Of the millions of tourists who visit Venice every year nearly 80% stay for less than 24 hours. During these 24 hours they invariably visit Piazza San Marco. Why? Have a look at this website to find out: http://www.italyguides.it/us/venice_italy/st_mark_s_square/piazza_san_marco/st_mark_s_square.htm

We stayed a week and bypassed Piazza San Marco to get away from the tourists. However one day armed with our reserved passes to the San Marco basilica and the Doge’s Palace we visited the famous square. We toured the basilica with an audio guide before the tourists without reservations were let in and the palace on a guided (yes a real person) secrets tour. The secrets tour guide led us through numerous rooms behind the museum to see where the leaders of one of the largest maritime powers of the early second millennium sat and discussed the business of state. The tour also gave us an insight into the exciting life of Cassanova one of Venice’s favourite sons. After the tour we joined the other tourists to tour the museum and cross the Bridge of Sighs to the prison. The San Marco basilica museum is also worth the steep climb up the stairs for the view, to see the horses the Venetians pillaged from the Byzantines over a thousand years ago, and the mosaics. In fact the whole interior and much of the exterior of the basilica is covered with mosaics.

There are a couple of other museums bordering the square which we did not visit. There is a bell tower, boutiques selling murano glass, gelato stores and the campanile which we did visit for a splendid view over the city. While we were up there the bells tolled twice, an ear splitting experience.