 The two long wings that run the length of the Square are the Procuratie Vecchie and the Procuratie Nuove, which had housed the offices and residences of some of the main individuals of the Venetian Republic.When the city came under Napoleonic rule, the French emperor and his court realized that public representation of imperial power posed certain logistical and political problems.Having rejected the Doge's Palace because of its complex past, these turned to the Procuratie Nuove, the former residence of the "Procuratore di San Marco", along the southern edge of the Square.