piazza
Americannoun
-
piazzas,
plural
-
piazze
plural
-
an open square or public place in a city or town, especially in Italy.
-
Chiefly New England and Inland South. a large porch on a house; veranda.
-
Chiefly British. an arcade or covered walk or gallery, as around a public square or in front of a building.
noun
-
a large open square in an Italian town
-
a covered passageway or gallery
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of piazza
1575–85; < Italian < Latin platēa courtyard, originally, street < Greek plateîa, noun use of feminine of platýs flat 1. See place
Explanation
Most cities and large towns have a central outdoor gathering place or town square — in Italy, this is called a piazza. Some piazzas have benches, statues, and fountains. The most famous piazza in the world is probably the Piazza San Marco in Venice, but there are several piazzas in almost every Italian city, and the word is commonly used in Ethiopia as well. London's first public square, Covent Garden, was modeled after Italian piazzas. In the U.S., it's more common for this word to mean "porch lined with columns," instead of "town square," and for unknown reasons, this usage is especially common in the Boston area.
Vocabulary lists containing piazza
Western Europe - Introductory
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Western Europe - Middle School and High School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for March 20–March 26, 2021
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The heat, the blurry TVs in the piazza, the cheers spilling from apartment buildings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
The US-born pope drew excited crowds when he arrived in his popemobile at a piazza in Acerra, a city of around 60,000 people.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
A short walk away is the pretty piazza where Roberto Zanon has spent all his life but which he now has to leave.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2025
Behind the piazza, you’ll find Postmates’ Pizza Remix, featuring Prince Street Pizza’s signature Sicilian-style square slices topped with ingredients from local restaurants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025
The first few katoblepones lumbered into the piazza, bellowing in anger.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Bari Vecchia—or “old” Bari—is a dizzying but inviting warren of white-stone alleyways and sunny piazzas that make up the historic heart of the city.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025
“We wanted to see the sights in Florence and have long lunches in the piazzas, but instead we were stuck in our overpriced villas under the air-conditioning.”
From Seattle Times ● May 27, 2024
Norman Powell celebrated his 30th birthday in May by touring Italy’s Amalfi Coast, posting pictures of himself in piazzas and on private boats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2024
Several Italian streets, piazzas and lecture halls are named after him, as is a moon crater near the Mare Humorum.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 16, 2023
Everywhere he looked, there were wide piazzas and traffic-clogged streets.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
Troops were confined to barracks and kept in readiness for any emergency; strong posses of police guarded all strategic points; cavalry bivouacked in many piazze of many towns.
From Time Magazine Archive
Young volunteers rushed about with paintbrushes, paste pots and bills, to plaster Italy's piazze and palazzi, walls and ruins with the confusingly mixed-up slogans and emblems of about 18 different political parties.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sacchetti describes the borghi,-180- contrade, and piazze of Florence; and his speech is seasoned with rare Tuscan salt of wit.
From Renaissance in Italy: Italian Literature Part 1 (of 2) by John Addington Symonds
In the first days of spring, from one end of the island to the other, the villagers assemble, and light great fires in the piazze and at the cross-roads.
From Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia with Notices of their History, Antiquities, and Present Condition. by Thomas Forester
The life in the piazze and on the streets, the crowds in the shops, the pageants, the lights, the stir, the color, all mightily took the eye of the young Dane.
From A Midnight Fantasy by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
