Piazza San Marco c. late 1760s

Francesco Guardi painted this view of the Piazza San Marco, capturing the heart of Venice with oil on canvas. At its center is the Campanile, a watchtower, and beyond, the Basilica di San Marco, its domes echoing ancient Byzantine forms, symbols of Venice’s historical link to the East. The tower, a phallic symbol, has roots stretching back to antiquity, seen in Egyptian obelisks and Roman columns, emblems of power. Think of the Tower of Babel, a story of ambition and hubris—the drive to reach the heavens and the subsequent fall. Just like the biblical tower, the Campanile collapsed in 1902. Its rebuilding speaks to the psychological need to reconstruct and remember, to heal collective trauma through architectural resurrection. These motifs are cultural carriers, their repeated appearance reminding us that human aspirations and vulnerabilities transcend time. Each era interprets and adapts them, layering new meanings onto old forms, ever in flux.