Colonna di San Marco e San Teodoro

Located overlooking the water in Piazza San Marco, the Colonna di San Marco e San Teodoro are two columns topped with bronze and marble statues that honor Venice’s patron saints. San Marco Evangelista is depicted as a winged lion on the Column of the Lion, while San Teodoro is seen atop the other. Together with Palazzo Ducale and the Marciana Library docks, they greet visitors accessing Piazza San Marco from the sea.

The Colonna di San Marco e San Teodoro were constructed by Nicolò Barattiero under the dogato of Sebastiano Ziani during the 12th century when Piazza San Marco was being enlarged. These grand monuments were transported from the East, with the winged lion of San Marco, an ancient bronze sculpture of either Greek or Syriac origin. San Teodoro, the Byzantine saint, and warrior, is depicted slaying a dragon in marble atop the column on the Marciana Library's other side. The bust is from a Roman emperor’s classic statue, while the head, arms, and legs are of medieval origin.

During medieval and Renaissance times, the area beneath the columns was occupied by wooden shops. But since the mid-18th century, the space was used for executions, and Venetians are still superstitious about not crossing the gap between the two columns.

To the east of the Colonna di San Marco e San Teodoro stands the iconic Palazzo Ducale, with Saint Mark’s Basilica on its northern edge. At the same time, to the west lie the beautiful Giardinetti Reali (or Royal Gardens). 

Venetians traditionally avoid walking between the two columns. The space was used for public executions from the medieval period into the 18th century, and the superstition against passing through it has outlasted the practice by two centuries -- it costs nothing to walk around rather than between them, and locals still do.

The columns stand unfenced in a working square that carries very heavy foot traffic. Sitting on the plinth steps blocks one of the few resting places on the Molo and, during acqua alta, one of the higher points people use to cross.

The columns stand in the open at the lagoon end of the Piazzetta, between the Doge's Palace and the Biblioteca Marciana. There is no ticket, no enclosure, and no opening hours -- they are simply part of the square.

• Getting there: the San Marco and San Zaccaria vaporetto stops are both a couple of minutes away along the Riva.
• Seeing them properly: the statues sit around twelve metres up, so the carved capitals at the base are the part that rewards standing close; the figures themselves read better from further back along the Molo.
• The lion: the bronze on the column is the original, not a copy, and has been in place since the 13th century apart from removals for restoration and its spell in Paris under Napoleon.