Campo San Polo, Venice

Campo San Polo is a Venetian square gathered around the visible apse of San Polo, a church dedicated to the apostle Paul. The church dates to the ninth century, while its main entrance is concealed among buildings along a canal; paintings by Tintoretto and Tiepolo are inside. Beside the apse, a sweeping line of palaces traces the course of a canal filled in during 1761.

It includes a Baroque palace designed by Domenico Rossi in 1712, a Gothic Soranzo residence, and an early sixteenth-century Donà palace. The plaque outside the church records a remarkable reversal: in 1611, authorities prohibited games and the sale of goods in this lively gathering place. The square also carries a darker memory. On 25 February 1548, Lorenzino de’ Medici was killed here by assassins working for Cosimo I.