Feltre is a town and comune of the province of Belluno in Veneto, northern Italy. A hill town in the southern reaches of the province, it is located on the Stizzon River, about from its junction with the Piave, and southwest from Belluno. The Dolomites loom to the north of the town. An area incorporating Feltre and 12 contiguous municipalities is known as. In 2014, the Feltrino area was formalised in the Unione Montana Feltrina.
History
It was known in Roman times as Feltria and described as an oppidum by Pliny, who assigned its foundation to the Alpine tribe of the Rhaetians. The city obtained the status of municipium in 49 BC with its citizens inscribed into the Roman tribe of Menenia. In spite of its rigorous climate, which led a Roman author, perhaps Caesar, to write:
Feltria perpetuo niveum damnata rigore Atque mihi posthac haud adeunda, vale''
The Cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter and rebuilt in Renaissance times. It has maintained from the preceding buildings the apse and the 14th-century campanile. The interior has works by Pietro Marescalchi and some 17th-century wooden statues. The church is flanked by the 15th-century baptistry, housing a precious Medieval baptismal font from 1399. Under the cathedral is an excavated archaeological area of belonging to the ancient Roman city.
The Imperial Gate, from which the Via Mezzaterra starts. This is faced by the noteworthy Casa Crico, Casa Cantoni and Palazzo Muffoni.
Palazzo Salce.
The Palazzo della Ragione, the current Town Hall, with a Palladian style portico. It opens to the Piazza Maggiore, one of the most beautiful in the Veneto, with a fountain by Tullio Lombardo and a column surmounted by the Lion of St. Mark. In the same piazza are Palazzo Guarnieri and a Baroque staircase leading to the church of St. Roch, flanked by the so-called "Castle of Alboin" with the Torre dell'Orologio', once part of the Roman defensive apparatus. The Castle's attribution to the Lombard king ofAlboin has no historical evidence
The Pinacoteca, in Palazzo Villabruna, has works by Morto da Feltre, Cima da Conegliano, Gentile Bellini, Pietro Marescalchi and others.
The church and the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, begun in 1492, but entirely renovated in the 19th century, has maintained part of the ancient cloister. It houses a painting by Jacopo Bassano
Outside the city are:
The sanctuary of SS. Vittore e Corona, dedicated to Saints Victor and Corona, outside the city shows a mix of Byzantine and Renaissance styles, and is home to some 14th-century Giottesque frescoes. Sculptures include the martyrium that houses the relics of the two Eastern saints and a small statue of St. Victor.
The late Renaissance Villa Pasona stands on the site of the Castle of Pedavena, destroyed by Emperor Charles IV in 1350.
