San Marco Backpack Alert
 

We visited San Marco this morning. Not bad lines, but as we came out the guards were turning away anyone with even the smallest backpack. Hard to stand in line for 30 minutes with no advance warning of this restriction. So stash your backpacks if you want to get into San Marco. More when we get home.

You mean just to get into the square?

Are you speaking of the square or the cathedral in Venice or of the museum or the piazza in Florence, or something else?

This backpack and large bag ban has long been the case at the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. Visitors should check bags or backpacks at the Ateneo San Basso, a former church on Calle San Basso to the left of the Basilica's main entrance. The plastic baggage claim check can be used to bypass the queue at the front of the Basilica.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant entry into the Basilica of San Marco Venice. ellenem's advice sounds very good. The backpack/large bag ban may have been in effect for some time, but I guess that one in ten to twenty people were being turned away as we were in the atrium viewing the mossaics after being inside. It's probably too much to ask for an early warning somewhere up the queue.