Venice, one of the most famous city in the world, was probably founded in 726 on the isle called Rialto (or Rio Alto).
In the course of centuries, while its might increased, Venice developped in the lagoon carrying its name on a group 119 islands, which are divided by 160 canals and linked by about 369 bridges.
Venice was called the Serene Republic, and its history is glorious and magnificent; glory and magnificence, of which Venice retains a sign in its wonderful buildings and in the masterpieces of its museums and churches.
Its lights and matchless colours make of it a city of poetry admired by everyone all over the world.
SAINT MARK SQUARE
In Saint Mark Square, the very centre of the town’s life, you can find the most different touches of originality.
The shape itself is an oddity, being like a trapezium (it is 192 yards long, 90 yards wide on the Basilica side, while the opposite side i about 61 yards).
There is, then, the imposing and fabulous façade of the Basilica, in Eastern-Romanesque style, faced, on the three other sides, by the Fabbrica Nuova westwards, the Clock Tower and the Procuratie Vecchie northwards and the Procuratie Nuove southwards, all in classical Renaissance style.
At last, on the south-east side, almost in front of the Basilica, you can see the Romanesque Bell-Tower, mighty and majestic.
In ancient times, the square was only a meadow, in the middle of which the Batario river was flowing. Towards the end of 1200, the doge Sebastiano Ziani filled up the river, and the square began getting it modern aspect.
At first, it was paved with bricks and only towards 1770 it was paved with trachyte and Istrian stone.
Also nowadays, as in the past, it is the meeting place preferred by both citizen,. and tourist, crowding almost unceasingly the arches, the shops and the well-known coffee-houses.
A kind feature of the square is constituted by the pigeons, which are called Saint Mark’s pigeons because they live in the capitals, pinacle in dome, and under the arches of the Basilica.
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