What to see in Vittorio Veneto, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including San Martino Castle, Cathedral and Diocesan Museum.
Tourist information
Located in the valley of the Meschio river, on the slopes of the Prealps, Vittorio Veneto is a town which is home to commerce and industry.
Relevant tourist center connected with the Council spur, the town was built on top of a Roman stronghold, during the Great War it was the scene of a victorious battle.
The city is formed by the union of two ancient municipalities, which occurred in 1866, Ceneda, which lies partly on the plain and partly clinging to the hill, and Serravalle, which keeps the medieval layout almost intact.
The unification took place after the formation of the Kingdom of Italy with the name of Vittorio, in honor of the King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele II.
After the Italian victory over the Austrians, in the last battle that took place in this area, at the end of the Great War, Veneto was added to the name Vittorio, obtaining the current Vittorio Veneto.
Ceneda dates back to the protohistory of the Venetians, as evidenced by a necropolis in the locality of the Friars, with depositions dating back to the period from the eighth century BC. until the arrival of the Romans, as demonstrated by the many traces found in the subsoil dating back to Roman times, especially the period when Emperor Julius Caesar was.
In all likelihood, the village of Serravalle, due to its strategic position, which made it an obligatory passage point to go to the Lapisina Valley, was born as a military garrison during the first years of the Roman Empire.
In 1866, to build a new city center, Piazza del Popolo was built with the new Public Gardens, symbol of the union of the two countries.
Ceneda is dominated by the Castle of San Martino, an ancient bishop's seat, which presents itself in its current forms after a rebuilding dating back to 1420.
In ancient times a gallery connected the Castle of San Martino with the underlying Castello dei Romagno, which no longer exists.
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What see
From the Castle of San Martino, through a panoramic road called via Brevia, you reach the Cathedral on whose square is the sixteenth-century Loggia of the Community of Ceneda, now home to the Museum of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.
In the district of Serravalle there is the Duomo, which in its current form is the result of a reconstruction completed in the eighteenth century, contains inside a wonderful altarpiece by Titian, depicting the Madonna and Child in glory, placed on the main altar, as well as two large paintings by Francesco Canova, better known as Francesco da Milano, placed in the presbytery.
The Cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, overlooks Piazza Giovanni Paolo I, so called in honor of Bishop Albino Luciani, future John Paul I, Bishop of Vittorio Veneto between 1958 and 1969.
The origins of the building, as a place of worship, are probably prior to the arrival of the body of San Titian of Oderzo (VII, VIII century), main patron of the diocese, whose relics are kept in the crypt.
The Cathedral, destroyed by Treviso in 1199, was rebuilt for the first time in Romanesque style, of which the bell tower has retained its appearance, and a second time since 1740, in neoclassical style.
The building was then completed in 1773 and consecrated on September 26, 1824.
The loggia, former seat of the city governor, was rebuilt inspired by Gothic forms around the mid-fifteenth century.
Next to the facade, where some traces of frescoes are visible, there is a beautiful Romanesque tower.
The building houses the museum of the Cenedese territory, which houses artifacts dating back to the Romanesque and Lombard periods, as well as a small art gallery including paintings from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, including a Canova altarpiece and the famous Madonna in stucco and colored papier mache , work by Sansovino.
Along the arcades of via dei Martiri della Libertà there are typical houses dating back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, including Palazzo Troyer and Palazzo Minucci with the church of Santa Croce.
On via Mazzini stands the remarkable Gothic church of San Giovanni Battista, which preserves fifteenth-century frescoes, partially attributed to the painter Del Fiore, as well as other works by Francesco da Milano and Jacopo da Valenza.
Outside the center there is the church of Santa Giustina from 1100, remodeled at the end of the sixteenth century.
Inside this building of worship is the funeral monument of Rizzardo IV da Camino, a 14th century work by some Venetian stonemasons.
Near Porta San Lorenzo stands out the fourteenth-century construction of the civil hospital, together with the adjoining church of San Lorenzo, which preserves a cycle of frescoes of the fifteenth century and represents a remarkable testimony of international Gothic.
Piazza Giovanni Paolo I also overlooks the Episcopal Seminary, which houses the Diocesan Museum, a rich Library and the Museum of Natural Sciences "Antonio De Nardi".
The Church of Sant'Andrea di Bigonzo, which dates back to the 4th century, is today the result of a Romanesque-Gothic makeover in the 14th century.
Inside, where grandiose newsstands stand out in the corners, sixteenth-century frescoes and paintings by Frigimelica are preserved.
First along via Cavour and after the tree-lined viale della Vittoria, which connects Serravalle and Ceneda, you will find Piazza del Popolo, where there is the war memorial made by Murer.
In Ceneda it is worth visiting the Church of Santa Maria del Meschio, inside which you can admire the Annunciation, a 16th-century work by Previtali.
Continuing on, you arrive in Piazza della Cattedrale, which includes the Cenedese loggia and the Seminary palace as well as the Duomo.
The Cathedral underwent various renovations starting from the thirteenth century, until it assumed the current neoclassical aspect, conferred on it by Scotti in 1750.
The bell tower dates back to the original construction, inside three naves there are two paintings by Jacopo da Valenza, placed respectively in the second and fourth right altars, as well as other works dating back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The Cenedese loggia, built in elegant Renaissance forms according to Sansovino's design, is decorated with frescoes by Pomponio Amalteo, visible under the external portico.
It houses the Battle Museum, which preserves a thematic repertoire on the Austrian occupation of 1917-18.
Opposite is the Palazzo del Seminario, where there is a library, while in the center of the square there is a beautiful sixteenth-century fountain.
Following an uphill road on the left side of the Cenedese loggia, you arrive at the Castle of San Martino, probably built in the Lombard era but remodeled in the fifteenth century.
