We have been to Yorkshire this weekend, unfortunately the weather was very wet and there wasn’t any internet service, so not that many photos taken, but I did spent sometime sorting through some old photos. When we were in Venice, October 2016, we visited St Mark’s Square, but I wasn’t happy about the photos that I took. I very nearly trashed them all, but having some time to play around with them this weekend, I have saved quite a few. There are always going to be loads of tourists, but since it is so iconic of Venice, I should post them and it is a wonderful place full of beautiful buildings, just ignore the bodies 🙂
As the largest square in the city and the only one given the designation of “piazza” (the others are all referred to as “campi”), St. Mark’s Square has always been the location of important government buildings and other facilities central to the goings on in Venice.
The centerpiece of the piazza is, of course, the magnificent St. Mark’s Basilica. Commissioned in 1071 by doge Domenico Contarini, this amazing church is built in Venetian-Byzantine style, a mixture of western and eastern styles.
The basilica has a separate campanile – bell tower – that stands 98.6 meters tall (323 ft) and is one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks. Originally built in the ninth century, the current version was rebuilt in 1912 after the original tower collapsed in 1902.
The other dominant building around St. Mark’s Square is the Doge’s Palace. A beautiful Gothic structure, it faces the Venetian lagoon and was completed in the early fifteenth century, though portions of it were rebuilt after a fire in 1574.
Between the Palace of the Doge and the Library is the Piazzetta (little piazza) San Marco. It is known for the two columns located there that pay homage to two of Venice’s patrons – St. Mark and St. Teodoro of Amasea.
Echoes of the Past 
I do like that first image in monochrome…at least the lurid tourist clothing doesn’ show up that way! 😀
Yes I like the first one, and for the same reason 🙂
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Wonderful! The amount of labor that went into those buildings is staggering to think about!
Glad you enjoyed them, they are beautiful and it is amazing how they built them all those years ago 🙂
Thank you so much for the lovely tour. I’ve never been to Italy, even though “imparo l’italiano” – just for fun. 🙂
Ha ha, well you will have to Put it on your wish list, its a beautiful country and beautiful food 🙂
Great pictures. We’ve been to Venice several times, usually in the high season but we recently passed through in May, on our way to take the ferry to Croatia – and then again the following week on our way home. Not quite as many crowds, which was nice, and we trod the back alleyways between ferry and railway station, which gave us the opportunity to see some fairly empty streets. I’d like to go in the winter sometime, I imagine it’s totally different and very atmospheric
Thank you, glad you enjoyed them. We went in October, the whole place closes right down during the winter, no tourists to keep the shops open or hotels running. The locals nearly all go over to the mainland for the winter and come back in the spring……our guide told us . But it is interesting to go where the normal tourists stay away from, you can get a real feel for the place. Staying on Venice is lovely, because when the tourists leave about 5pm, it becomes all together different 🙂
Absolutely lovely photography, Lynne, a joy to look at! You depicted the beauty of Venice so well! Wish you a great week! Marcus
Thank you Marcus, I love taking photos of this wonderful city and the surrounding islands. You have a great week too 🙂 Lynne