Beautiful Italian Piazzas
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The below list of beautiful Italian piazzas represents the very cream of an extraordinary crop. Italian cities and towns are built around their piazzas which are the focal point of daily life.
There are in excess of 8,000 towns in Italy and each town has at least one landmark square, many of which date back to the medieval or Renaissance periods. On top of that, every major city has a series of outstanding piazzas and it's those very public spaces that often define a city's worth. The best Italian piazzas allow you the time and space to enjoy them, with places to eat, drink or simply watch the world go by. |
Prato della Valle, Padua
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Before compiling my selection I pondered over whether I should describe them as the top ten squares or the top ten piazzas. I plumped for the Italian version of the name because "square" very rarely represents the shape of the space. Most of the piazzas below are rectangular but as you'll see when you get to the best ones at the bottom of the page, the finest among them are more elliptical than square.
With such a vast amount of piazzas to choose from, this list is very much subjective and on a different day I could justifiably have come up with ten completely different squares that would have graced this page. I'll add a little more about the ones that just missed out at the end but for now, let's have a look at the glittering top ten piazzas in Italy.
With such a vast amount of piazzas to choose from, this list is very much subjective and on a different day I could justifiably have come up with ten completely different squares that would have graced this page. I'll add a little more about the ones that just missed out at the end but for now, let's have a look at the glittering top ten piazzas in Italy.
Piazza del Campo - Siena
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My number one favourite/best Piazza in Italy is the fabulous Piazza del Campo in Siena. Also known simply as 'Il Campo", it was created in the shape of a shell and is very much the centrepiece of this beautiful Tuscan city. The expansive piazza performs its task as a public open space better than most but its aesthetic charms separate it from the others on this list.
Piazza del Campo gently slopes to the bottom of the medieval Palazzo del Popolo from which extends the 88 metre high Torre del Mangia. The tower casts an imposing morning shadow across the piazza and you can climb it to get the very best views of Siena. The square is also adorned by the beautiful Fonte di Gaia at one end. |
Piazza del Campo, Siena
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Piazza dell'Anfiteatro - Lucca
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I've chosen the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro in the heady position of second on this list partly because it's so quirky. It lies in the centre of the walled city of Lucca in Tuscany and takes its name from an ancient Roman amphitheatre that once occupied the same space.
The amphitheatre was razed to the ground in 1830 and the square built in its place was created by using much of the infrastructure of the ancient edifice. It's much smaller than the other squares on the list and has few monuments to speak of within it, but the feeling created by the irregular height of the buildings around it is wonderful. |
Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, Lucca
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Prato della Valle - Padua
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We now enter the podium positions for the best piazza in Italy and really, any of these three could have been placed in any order.
The iconic face of the city of Padova (or Padua in its anglicised form) is the enormous Prato della Valle. The enormous elliptical piazza is a busy road intersection that's dominated by the world's most beautiful roundabout. A water-filled moat lined with statues and crossed by bridges occupies the centre of the piazza while its sides are graced by a series of elegant historic buildings. Prato della Valle's claims are further pushed by the presence of the magnificent Abbazia di Santa Giustina dominating one corner. |
Prato della Valle, Padua
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Piazza dei Miracoli - Pisa
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The aptly-named Piazza dei Miracoli lies in the heart of Pisa in Tuscany and its own fame is overshadowed by that of its most famous monument: the Leaning Tower of Pisa. However, there's a good deal more to this square than a wonky tower and it's with good reason that it's named the Square of Miracles.
The gloriously-manicured lawns at the centre of the square are home to two magnificent religious buildings: pride of place as the originally-intended centrepiece (before gravity took over at the tower) is the Pisa Cathedral, one of the most beautiful in Italy. The list of masterpiece structures is completed by the Pisa Baptistery along with the Camposanto Monumentale and Museo dell Sinopie. |
Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa
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Piazza Navona - Rome
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To rank as the most outstanding square in Rome takes some doing but Piazza Navona is well-deserving of the accolade and rightfully takes its place among the best squares in Italy.
Lying at the heart of Rome's centro storico, the centre of the oblong-shaped piazza is dominated by series of 16th and 17th century fountains, one of which has a sixteen metre high obelisk imperiously protruding from it. Around the edges of the enclosed piazza are dozens of places to dine al-fresco while one of those sides is dominated by the magnificent Baroque church of Chiesa di Sant'Agnese in Agone. |
Piazza Navona, Rome
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Piazza Bra - Verona
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The city of Verona in the Veneto region can boast a number of beautiful squares, any of which could grace this list but I've picked out the wonderful Piazza Bra as the best.
This expansive square is fringed by a line of beautiful historic buildings on one side and the park in the middle of the piazza is one of the city's favourite meeting places. Piazza Bra's wow factor however comes from the monument that occupies its eastern half: the incomparable Verona Arena was built in 30 AD but still manages to successfully host events. Summer evening musical concerts at the open-air theatre are just magical. |
Piazza Bra, Verona
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Piazza San Marco - Venice
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The major powerhouse of the medieval era was the city of Venice which grew rich from its trading prowess with the east. Those riches are displayed in the city's main square: Piazza San Marco, as much a show of strength as the pursuit of aesthetic beauty. Perhaps nowhere is more representative of those outward signs of success than the four horses that adorn the facade of the city's main church: the Basilica di San Marco. The bronze horses were ruthlessly ripped from the Hippodrome of Constantinople (now Istanbul) after the Venetians sacked the city in 1204.
The full glory of the Piazza can be enjoyed from the top of Saint Mark's Bell Tower which soars 99 metres above it. |
Piazza San Marco, Venice
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Piazza del Plebiscito - Naples
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The city of Naples was once the largest and one of the most important cities in the world. It is to this era that we owe the city's main square, the marvellous Piazza del Plebiscito.
There's a distinct air of opulence on this square with one end occupied by the enormous Royal Palace of Naples which in turn is flanked by the Teatro San Carlo, the longest continually-open theatre in the world. Facing the Royal Palace at the opposite end of the Piazza are the beautiful domes of the unusual Basilica di San Francesco da Padova which opened in 1836. |
Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples
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Piazza duomo - Syracuse
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One of the oldest cities in Italy and certainly the oldest on this list, Syracuse in Sicily was once the major power in the Magna Graecia era with Greek mathematician Archimedes among its citizens.
Syracuse faces out on to the Ionian Sea with its main sights clustered around the little island of Ortigia. At the centre of Ortigia is the magnificent Piazza Duomo whose buildings grace the edge of the square in harmonious shades. The standout monument on the square is Syracuse Cathedral whose story is quite astonishing: in its 2,500 year history the structure has been a temple and a mosque at various times. |
Piazza Duomo, Syracuse
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Piazza del Duomo - Florence
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It's testimony to the quality of the opposition that the wondrous Piazza del Duomo in Florence can only make tenth place on this list. Unlike the following nine squares, Florence's Piazza del Duomo fails in a way to provide an expansive public space because most of that space is taken up by its monuments.
All is forgiven though because the beauty and quality of those monuments is second to none. The centrepiece is Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise known as Florence Cathedral. Just in front of the cathedral is the beautiful Florence Baptistery with its gilded doors by Ghiberti, and if that wasn't enough, you can get a bird's eye view of it all by climbing the 85 metre high Giotto's Bell Tower. |
Piazza del Duomo, Florence
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As I mentioned at the top of the page, the squares that have made this list could very well be rivalled by the dozens of others that just missed out. Various contenders were at one time or another on this list before a last-minute change of heart and they included the likes of Piazza Ducale in Vigevano, the city of Carpi's enormous Piazza dei Martiri, the Piazza Castello in Turin and Piazza Grande of Arezzo. The next level of piazzas that didn't quite make this list are showcased elsewhere on the website, on the Squares of Italy page.
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