'Plaza,' 'place,' and 'piazza' are triplets — same Greek root 'plateia' (broad way), three different routes.
A public square or open area in a city or town; also, a shopping centre or commercial complex.
From Spanish 'plaza' (public square, marketplace), from Vulgar Latin *plattea, from Latin 'platea' (broad street, open courtyard, open area in a town), from Greek 'plateia' (πλατεῖα), short for 'plateia hodos' (πλατεῖα ὁδός, broad way), from 'platýs' (πλατύς, broad, flat, wide), from PIE *pleth₂- (to spread out, flat, broad). This PIE root generated a vast family of 'flat' and 'broad' words: Greek 'Plátōn' (Plato — a nickname meaning 'broad-shouldered'), Latin 'plānus' (flat, level — hence 'plain,' 'plane,' 'planet,' which appears to wander across a flat sky), Old English 'flōr' (floor, a flat surface), English 'flat,' 'place' (via French, from Latin 'platea'), and 'platform' (a flat form). English borrowed
English borrowed the same Greek-Latin word three separate times through three different languages. Through French it became 'place.' Through Italian it became 'piazza.' Through Spanish it became 'plaza.' All three — place, piazza, and plaza — descend from Greek 'plateia' (broad way), yet each entered English with a slightly different flavour: 'place' is the most general, 'piazza' evokes Italian elegance, and 'plaza' carries