LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Venice: San Marco
built 628 days ago
Among the most remarkable buildings in Venice are the scuole, or gild halls, of the various confraternities. They were pious foundations created for mutual benefit and for purposes of charity. The scuole were divided into the six scuole grandi, so called from their numbers, wealth and privileges, and the scuole minori or fraglie, which in most cases were associated with an art or craft. The scuole minori were usually attached to some church in the quarter where the particular trade flourished. They had their special altar dedicated to the patron of the gild, a private buryingplace, and a room in which they held their chapter. The six scuole grandi, San Teodoro, S. Maria della Carita, S. Giovanni Evangelista, San Marco, della Misericordia and San Rocco, on the other hand, built themselves magnificent gild halls.
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The center of animation in Venice is St. Mark's Square and the Piazzetta, which leads from the square to the sea. On the square are St. Mark's Church; the Gothic Doges' Palace (14th-15th cent.), from which the Bridge of Sighs (c.1600) leads to the former prisons; the Old and New Law Courts (16th-17th cent.); the campanile (325 ft/99 m high; built in the 10th cent.; rebuilt after it collapsed in 1902); the Moors' Clocktower (late 15th cent.); the elegant Old Library (1553); St. Moses' Church; and the twin columns supporting the statues of St. Theodore stepping on a crocodile and of a winged lion of St. Mark (the emblem of Venice). On an island facing the Piazzetta is the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore (1566-1610) and on a nearby tip of land is the Church of Santa Maria della Salute (17th cent.).
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Venice has some wonderful restaurants, featuring cuisine of the Veneto. However it is widely regarded that the restaurants in Venice serve food of a quality and in quantities much lower than anywhere else in Italy. Specialties include polenta, made of corn meal; risotto with cuttlefish ink sauce. Diners should ... be aware that for every genuinely wonderful restaurant or trattoria, there's another serving rubbish food at inflated prices, especially in the most touristed streets around San Marco. Rule of thumb: if there's a waiter outside pimping for business, it's probably best avoided.
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Through a public selection process, the Municipality of Venice commissioned Santiago Calatrava in November 1999 to design the new bridge. The design was approved in February 2001 and the project approved in April 2002. The process of granting permits for construction -- which understandably must be done with great care by the public authorities -- continued into 2005.
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Venice is made of different parts. The most famous is the area comprising the 118 islands in the main districts that are called "Sestieri" and they are: Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce and San Marco where the main monuments and sights are located. Other main districts are Isola Della Giudecca and Lido di Venezia. Other important islands include Murano, Torcello, San Francesco del Deserto and Burano, but there are several more too. Lastly, there is Mestre another town on the more industrial mainland (but still part of Venice municipality), which is linked to Venice by a 5 kilometer bridge. In Mestre live more than 220.000 inhabitants, in Venice less than 60.000
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The Basilica Di San Marco, Venice's most famous church, was built in 830 to house the body of St. Mark. The adjacent Piazza di San Marco (St. Mark's Plaza) is the largest square in Venice and a great place to sit at one of the many outside cafes and relax, enjoy an overpriced drink or desert, and watch the people.
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