piazzali

Piazzali are large open public spaces in Italian urban design. In Italian, piazzale refers to a forecourt or wide square, typically paved and set apart from a regular street, often located at the entrance of important buildings such as railway stations, churches, or government complexes. The plural form piazzali refers to more than one such space. The term derives from piazza, the word for a town square, with the augmentative suffix -ale indicating a larger or more utilitarian space.

In practice, piazzali are used for circulation and gathering, sometimes serving as transportation hubs, approaches to monumental buildings, or as access points to parks and museums. They may include features such as stairs, ramps, statues, or benches, and often function as transitional spaces between the street and the interior of a site. This makes piazzali distinct from the more civic and sometimes market-oriented connotations of a piazza.

Numerous Italian towns have piazzali that are part of their urban fabric, and the name is commonly used in toponyms. Examples include Piazzale Roma in Venice or Piazzale Garibaldi in various cities, and the famous Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence is another widely known forecourt, though it is commonly referred to by its singular form.

Outside Italy, the word piazzale is used in Italian-influenced contexts to denote similar forecourts or large paved spaces when retaining Italian naming conventions.