St Mark’s Square, or Piazza San Marco, is one of the city’s most popular areas and is considered by many to be the centre of Venice. In reality, it isn’t a ‘square’ at all but a trapezoid, flaring outwards from the enclosed end. It was laid out in the 11th Century and was once divided in two by a canal. A hundred years later, the canal was filled in and by the 17th Century the now familiar geometric patterns of Istrian stone paving had replaced the earlier brickwork.