Kroměříž is first mentioned in 1110. It has a large square, whose focal point is a baroque-style column raised in the middle in order to mark the end of the plague epidemic in 1680. Next to it there is a fountain, part of the town’s water supply, dating from 1665 yet modified several times. The City Hall building and a long row of Renaissance style houses and Art Nouveau façades border the square; yet the bishop’s palace, with its large, splendid gardens, included on the UNESCO heritage list, is clearly the most impressive of all.

Šibenik is no exception among the towns on the Dalmatian coast. It did not originate as a Greek colony, nor was it founded by Illyrians or Romans, but by the first Croats to settle here. Yet its later history is not very different from that of other coastal towns, impacted by the arrival of the Ottomans, the Venetians, the Kings of Hungary and the Habsburgs. But the Slavs always remain the dominant element in the citadel. For a time, the Istro-Romanian community was numerous here.

The square has distinct nuances and is considered the most beautiful in present-day Croatia. It contains two sections, one of which was the church square, whereas the other was the centre of secular power and, although close to the shore, it was never a port.  The important landmarks of the square are the Renaissance-style palace, and especially the Church of St. Jacob, which is part of the UNESCO list.

Assisi,famous due to Saint Francis, is, through its positioning, yet another exception to the rule of Etruscan settlements. It lies not on a hill, but on a steep side of Mount Subasio. It also holds its own “secrets”. For one, its shape, irregular like any medieval square, represents the shape of the town in miniature. A coincidence, yet a profoundly symbolic one in the town of Saint Francis. Then, it has a special continuity, for it stands on the site of a Roman cistern. The temple of Minerva also dates from the Roman period, converted into a church in 1539 and admired for its proportions by architects and by Goethe as well. Although not planned this way, the buildings are all nearly the same height, which creates the sensation of unity. There is a single exception, the medieval tower next to the temple of Minerva, which makes the square visible from any corner of the town.

San Marco Square lies at the edge of the largest and lowest island in the Venetian lagoon and is the only square in the city which is called piazza, with all the others being called campo. It has two distinct zones, yet their function may not be understood without considering the whole, which actually makes them inseparable: the square itself and the San Marco plaza, which connects to the sea through the molo, the pier. Piațeta dei Leoncini, with a side marked by the northern wall of the Basilica, opposite to San Marco square, has functioned (and still does) as a continuation of the square itself, and thus has a less palpable identity. It received its name quite late, after statues of lions, sculpted from red Cottanello marble, were brought into its centre in 1722. The initial nucleus is essentially represented by San Marco plaza, initially planned as a square and courtyard of the Doge’s Palace in a time when the spot of the current Basilica was taken only by a palace chapel. The space of the square itself appeared only after the 1156 clogging of a river which cut the actual perimeter in two, and the square became a Square only after Venice underwent a number of historical changes, the steps of a communal psychological transformation. Today it is probably the most photographed square in the world, with over 12 million tourists every year.

The history of Aristotelous square began with a fire that destroyed two thirds of the city in 1917. Until that point – due to centuries of Ottoman rule – Thessaloniki was an Oriental city, with no square. Moreover, any attempt to design one had been thwarted by the impossibility of demolishing an area which had been built too densely. However, what cannot be achieved by architects can be accomplished by fire. The project was prepared by Frenchman Ernest Hébrard in 1918, but finalised only in 1950.