Piazza
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:''For the Brazilian footballer, see [[Wilson da Silva Piazza]]''
:''For the American baseball player, see [[Mike Piazza]]''
:''For the coupé car, see [[Isuzu Piazza]]''
[[Image:piazza.navona.in.rome.arp.jpg|thumb|right|[[Piazza Navona]] and the Fontana (fountain) del Moro in central [[Rome]], [[Italy]]. The other fountain (in the background, surrounded by scaffolding) is [[Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi]].]]
A '''piazza''' (IPA {{IPA|/'pjatsa/}}) is an open [[city square|square in a city]], found in [[Italy]], and also in some other places on the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions; there is a good example of a piazza in Scotswood at Newcastle College. The term is roughly equivalent to the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''[[plaza]]''. In [[Ethiopia]], it is used to refer to a part of a city.
When the [[Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford|Earl of Bedford]] developed the first privately-ventured public square built in London, [[Covent Garden]], his architect [[Inigo Jones]] surrounded it with [[arcade (architecture)|arcade]]s, in the Italian fashion. Talk about the ''piazza'' was connected in Londoners' minds, not with the square as a whole but with the arcades, which were called the "piazzas".
In Britain ''piazza'' now generally refers to a paved open pedestrian space, without grass or planting, often in front of a significant building or shops.
In the United States, in the early 19th century, a ''piazza'' by further extension became a fanciful name for a [[colonnade]]d [[porch]]. Yet, the word ''piazza'' was used by some, especially in the [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]] area, to refer to a front [[porch]], fanciful or otherwise, connected to a house or apartment.<ref>[http://www.bu.edu/mfeldman/Boston/wicked.html Boston University, "Boston English"]</ref>
Piazza is also a common last name for Italians and Italian-Americans. The name grew out of the region surrounding Venice, and large populations of Piazza reside in Calabria, Sicily, and Venice.
A central square in [[Gibraltar]]'s [[Main Street (Gibraltar)|Main Street]] officially named ''John Mackintosh Square'' is colloquially referred to as ''The Piazza''.
==References==
<references/>
==See also==
* [[Town square]]
* [[Plaza]]
* [[List of city squares]]
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[[Category:Town squares]]
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