Venice: The Converted City

Abstract

By focusing on the Piazza San Marco, the chapter draws attention to the transformation of civic and religious spaces that took place in Venice between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. It argues that the rise of urban culture and the reconfiguration of urban space sought not only to accommodate a growing population, but also to facilitate the emerging conversional theatrics of Church and State, which made use of urban spaces for the purpose of political and religious indoctrination.