This is the symbol of the city’s public life. It is the only ‘piazza’ in Venice, the others are called ‘campo’.  A long series of modifications have brought the piazza to what it is now – a rectangular public meeting place with the Basilica at one end and an isolated bell tower, the highest in Venice, to its left. 

The Basilica is the point around which public and religious life revolves. It is the place where the Doges of old held their coronations.
It is the symbol of Venice – old and new. The church was built in the 9th century to entomb the body of St Mark, patron of the city whose remains were stolen from Alexandria in Egypt in 828.

The palace is an amazing example of Venetian Gothic architecture. It was the home of the Doge and law making institutions and a symbol of the wealth and power wielded by the Serenissima, the Venetian Republic. Inside are the Great Council rooms, the Senate, the constituency all decorated with paintings by Tintoretto, Titian and Veronese.  There are also the private rooms of the Doge, the famous Council of Ten rooms, the Armoury and the Prisons.