Venice > Sightseeing > Piazza San Marco Archeology

Archeologists find skeletons and a ruined church beneath Venice's Piazza San Marco

We took photos of the excavators as they worked. Little did we know what they'd discover.

ABOVE: Archeologists study their excavation site in the Piazza San Marco, near the Caffè Florian.

By Durant Imboden

When we photographed a team of archeologists digging up the Piazza San Marco in November, 2023, we--and they--had no idea what was about to be found.

According to Italian cultural authorities, the archeologists made two important discoveries:

• A brick tomb with the remains of at least seven people, dating back to the 7th or 8th Century A.D. (only a few centuries after Venice was founded as an island trading post).

• Runs of walls and floors from the long-lost Church of San Geminiano, which was built and rebuilt several times between the 6th and 16th Centuries and was demolished in 1807 after Napoleon's conquest of the Venetian Republic.

It remains to be seen how the discoveries will be preserved and presented. (Maybe an underground area for viewing the church's foundations, à la Rome's La Citta dell'Acqua?) We'll update this story as it continues to unfold.

More photos:

ABOVE: The excavation site is on the southern side of the Piazza San Marco.

ABOVE: The discoveries were made just a few meters from the Campanile di San Marco bell tower, which is across from the Basilica di San Marco.

ABOVE: During the archaeological dig, the uprooted paving stones have been catalogued and stored in the Piazza San Marco.

Last updated: February 22, 2024

About the author:

Durant Imboden has written about Venice, Italy since 1996. He covered Venice and European travel at About.com for 4-1/2 years before launching Europe for Visitors (including Venice for Visitors) with Cheryl Imboden in 2001.

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