Piazza San Marco, Venice

Piazza San Marco is Venice's most famous piazza. What appears to be a rectangle is actually a trapezium, and when you look up at the basilica, the piazza seems enormous, although it is only 175 meters long. On both sides of the piazza are the Procuratie, which housed the procurators of San Marco. The centerpiece of the piazza is the Basilica di San MarcoThe oldest of these (probably built by Codussi) are on your left when you face the basilica; Longhena built the ones on the right later, in 1640. The most recent buildings, commissioned by Napoleon in 1810, lie behind.