Piazza San Marco

There are few city squares in the world where you can easily spend an entire day exploring, or just dawdling as the rest of world goes by dressed in funny hats. But then again, few cities have so much psychologically concentrated in one place.

The waterfront is Venice’s front door to the Lagoon and the sea, its traditional lifeline and heartline; around the rim stand not only the palaces of government and religion – the residence of the Doge, the mint, the state library, the prisons and place of public execution – but also St Mark’s Basilica, which is not so much a church as a compact made between Venice and God. Arrive as early as you can to avoid the armies of Babylon, or linger late, to see the piazza as a masterpiece of urban design rather than a phenomenon of natural crowd control.