When I was age 12 in 1973, we spent a week on the top floor of the orange building to the right of the church, in rooms overlooking the Piazza. At that time it was a nunnery, and the nuns served us our meagre breakfast, a single hard roll and orange juice. To this day I remember wishing their breakfast had included more food!
Perfection, Squared
Masterpieces are made. They can also change with time. When Napoleon entered Venice in 1797, he famously pronounced the Piazza San Marco "the world's most beautiful drawing room." He then promptly decreed plans for rearranging it. In architecture, and in urban spaces that undergo constant modification, a thing can grow and still remain instantly recognizable.
No one would deny the magnificence of the Venetian piazza. But Rome's Piazza Navona certainly gives it a run for its money in any contest for the World's Greatest Public Space.
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