San Marco

A little history

This square’s been the heart of Venice for a thousand years, the political and religious centre of a republic that ran a sea empire. The Basilica went up from the 11th century to hold the relics of St Mark, its domes lined with gold mosaics and its façade carrying the four bronze horses looted from Constantinople. La Fenice, the opera house, burned and rose again more than once. The name means “the phoenix.” Napoleon is said to have called the piazza “the drawing room of Europe,” and it still feels like one.

The character

Grand, monumental, and thronged by day; then the day-trippers leave on the evening trains and it goes still and almost yours. Beautiful past arguing with, but it’s a stage as much as a neighbourhood.

What it's like to live here

The most central address in the city, steps from everything, on the main vaporetto lines. But it’s the priciest, the most crowded, and the most given over to tourism, so ordinary services are thin. You walk to Rialto or into Castello for a real grocer or a butcher. It’s also one of the lowest points in the city, so acqua alta reaches here first, though MOSE now holds back the worst of it.

The cost reality

The most expensive sestiere, to rent and to buy, about €6,200 a square metre, the top of the Venice market. You pay the maximum for the maximum location.

The verdict

San Marco’s for the person who wants the grandest address on earth and will pay for it, and share it with the crowds, to wake up in the middle of it all. If you want daily life over spectacle, Cannaregio or the Lido will treat you better. But for sheer beauty at the door, nothing else comes close.