Article 02, paisea 009. I campi di Venezia, la città del moderno. Mariapia Cunico.
Although Venice is a city that can be covered and lived only on foot, there are no squares since open public areas, clearings around churches and meeting places are called campo, campiello. The only real piazza is the historical Piazza San Marco, the pulsating heart of the historical centre, the most photographed square in the world, but, in actual fact, less of a piazza than the city’s numerous campi, a square for tourists, a place of grand spectacles but which has in truth by now lost for ever its role of square for every day life in Venice.
The name campo derives from the fact that, in the past, the city’s campi were not paved as they are today, but were tampered earth or grassy areas, similar to cultivated fields, with trees and a few small vegetable gardens. They were semi-public places where parish or nearby neighbourhood activities took place.
The different outlines of the Venetian campo derive from Venice’s own shape, the worldwide famous amazing figure of a strange “fish” floating on the lagoon’s waters, drawn by Canal Grande’s winding line, by the facades of palaces and by the back yards of vegetable gardens and gardens.
Full article HERE
Paisea 009, [public square], available in digital edition HERE
Tags: articles, news, paisea, public space
