At the gateway to the Dolomiti Bellunesi, Feltre preserves one of the best-kept historic centres in the Veneto: a Renaissance layout built by the Venetian Republic after the fire of 1509-10, still enclosed within its sixteenth-century walls.
From Roman origins to Venetian rule
Feltre’s origins date back to Roman times: according to Pliny the Elder, the town, originally inhabited by the Rhaetians, became a municipium along the Via Claudia Augusta Altinate, the ancient road linking the Venetian lagoon to Bavaria. An archaeological area in Piazza del Duomo still preserves Rhaetian, Roman and early medieval remains.
In 1404, on the death of Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Feltre surrendered spontaneously to the Republic of Venice, opening a long period of prosperity. During the War of the League of Cambrai, in 1509-10, the town was burned and devastated by the troops of Maximilian of Habsburg. The reconstruction ordered by Venice turned Feltre into a fully-formed Renaissance townscape, still legible in the urban layout visitors see today.
Piazza Maggiore, the heart of the town
Piazza Maggiore (officially Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II), built on several levels, is dominated by the keep of Alboino’s castle and surrounded by Renaissance palaces such as Palazzo Gazzi, Palazzo Guarnieri and Palazzo Cingolani. Here stand the Lombard Fountain (1520) in front of the church of San Rocco, the monument to Vittorino da Feltre and one to Panfilo Castaldi, plus a Lion of St Mark. On the first Sunday of August the square hosts the traditional Palio di Feltre.
The house façades of the old town, especially along Via Mezzaterra and Via Borgo Ruga, preserve sixteenth-century frescoes, some attributed to the Feltre-born painter known as “Morto da Feltre”.
The walls and the Venetian gates
Feltre’s walls, begun in 1179 at the initiative of Bishop Drudo da Camino and completed in medieval form by 1220, were renewed by Venice between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, with bastioned towers and firing chambers, on a design attributed to Dionisio da Viterbo. Through them open Porta Imperiale, towards Via Mezzaterra, Porta Oria, towards Borgo Ruga, which still retains its original wooden doors, and Porta Pusterla. Feltre now belongs to the Association of Walled Towns of the Veneto.
The Teatro de La Sena and the Bishops’ Palace
The Palazzo della Ragione, today the seat of the town hall on Piazzetta delle Biade, houses the Teatro de La Sena, also known as the “Little Fenice”: works by Carlo Goldoni premiered here in 1730, and a wooden theatre dating from 1802 is still preserved inside.
Separate from it stands the Bishops’ Palace, developed from the thirteenth century around two urban towers, damaged by the 1348 earthquake and enlarged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; restored from 1999 onward, it has housed the Diocesan Museum since 2018. The co-cathedral of San Pietro Apostolo, a national monument outside the old walls, holds among other things a monolith that once served as the bishop’s seat.
Feltre as a starting point
Feltre is also the ideal gateway to the Feltre area and to the nearby Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park: from here start, among others, the climb to Croce d’Aune pass, where in 1927 Tullio Campagnolo’s idea for the quick release was born, and the gravel route from Feltre to Cima Grappa.
Sources: Wikipedia, Association of Walled Towns of the Veneto, Belluno-Feltre Diocesan Museum, Touring Club Italiano.