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Feltre
Comune
Comune di Feltre
The Cathedral of Feltre
Coat of arms
Location of Feltre
FeltreLocation of Feltre in ItalyShow map of ItalyFeltreFeltre (Veneto)Show map of Veneto
Coordinates: 46°01′07″N 11°54′36″E / 46.01861°N 11.91000°E / 46.01861; 11.91000
Country	Italy
Region	Veneto
Province	Belluno (BL)
Frazioni	see list
Government
• Mayor	Viviana Fusaro
Area
• Total	100 km (40 sq mi)
Elevation	325 m (1,066 ft)
Population
• Total	20,560
• Density	210/km (530/sq mi)
Demonym	Feltrini
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	32032
Dialing code	0439
Patron saint	Saints Victor and Corona
Saint day	May 14
Website	Official website

Feltre (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfeltre]; Venetian: Fèltre) 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 4 kilometres (2 miles) from its junction with the Piave, and 20 km (12 mi) southwest from Belluno. The Dolomites loom to the north of the town.

An area incorporating Feltre and 12 contiguous municipalities is known as Feltrino [it]. In 2014, the Feltrino area was formalised in the Unione Montana Feltrina (Feltrino Mountain Community).

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

Feltria lay on a Roman road mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary as passing from Opitergium (Oderzo) through Feltria to Tridentum (Trento).

After the fall of the Western Empire, under which it had developed into a flourishing city, it became a Lombard dominion. Later in the Middle Ages, it was ruled by Ezzelino III da Romano, by the Camino family, and then by the Scaligeri of Verona, from 1315 to 1337. Feltre was subsequently under Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, the da Carrara and the Visconti until 1404, when, together with Belluno, it was conquered by the Republic of Venice. In 1499 it received a new line of walls.

In 1509 the center of the town was mostly destroyed during battles between the Venetians and the League of Cambrai, and later rebuilt with a characteristic 16th-century style. In 1797, after the capitulation of Venice to Napoleon, it was ruled for some time by the French. Napoleon made his minister of war, Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke, Duke of Feltre in 1807. After the Congress of Vienna (1814), Feltre was assigned to the Austrian Empire, to which it remained until it was joined to the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.

It was besieged by Austria during World War I.

During World War II, Adolf Hitler demanded a meeting with Benito Mussolini to discuss his strategy for defending Italy from the Allied Armies since the Axis armies had just surrendered Tunis to the British Army, giving Allied Armies total control of North Africa. This meeting took place on July 19, 1943 in Feltre, Italy.

Notable people of Feltre include Panfilo Castaldi, printer; Bernardine of Feltre, Friar Minor, missionary and founder of Monti di Pietà; Vittorino da Feltre, humanist educator; and Morto da Feltre, painter.

Main sights

• 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 1,000 m (10,763.91 sq ft) belonging to the ancient Roman city.
• The Imperial Gate (1489, restored in 1545), 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 (16th century), the current Town Hall, with a Palladian style portico. It opens to the Piazza Maggiore 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 (1576–1632), 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 kingdom of Alboin 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 (12th–15th century), dedicated to Saints Victor and Corona, outside the city shows a mix of Byzantine and Renaissance styles, and is home to some 14th-century Giottoesque 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 Pasole - Berton stands on the site of the Castle of Pedavena, destroyed by Emperor Charles IV in 1350.

Frazioni

Anzù, Arson, Canal, Cart, Cellarda, Croci, Farra, Foen, Grum, Lamen, Lasen, Mugnai, Nemeggio, Pont, Pren, Sanzan, Tomo, Umin, Vellai, Vignui, Villabruna, Villaga, Villapaiera, Zermen.

Notable people

• Panfilo Castaldi, printer
• Blessed Bernardine of Feltre, Friar Minor, missionary and founder of Monti di Pietà
• Vittorino da Feltre, humanist educator
• Morto da Feltre, painter

Twin towns – sister cities

Feltre is twinned with:

• Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France
• Braunfels, Germany
• Carcaixent, Spain
• Dudelange, Luxembourg
• Eeklo, Belgium
• Kiskunfélegyháza, Hungary
• Newbury, England, United Kingdom

Gallery

• Piazza Maggiore
• Historical Centre; view from via Panoramica
• View of via Roma
• View to the Dolomites from via Tezze
• the Duomo of Feltre

References

1. "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
2. "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
3. Among Rhaetica oppida in Natural History iii, 130, amending Fertini to Feltrini.
4. "Feltria, condemned to the rigor of eternal snows, from me too, who henceforth will scarcely approach you, Farewell!" The distich, given here as in Charles Stephens and Nicholas Lloyd, Dictionarium historicum... (London, 1686) s.v. "Feltria, is often attributed to Julius Caesar (Robert Pierpont, Notes and Queries, 26 October 1907, p. 332).
5. William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, s.v. "Feltria".
6. Shirer, William (1960) . The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Simon and Schuster, Inc. p. 996.
7. "Migrazione e integrazione nel convegno internazionale tenuto a Feltre". marcopologeie.eu (in Italian). Feltre. Archived from the original on 2021-02-28. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
8. "Villes jumelées". dudelange.lu (in French). Dudelange. Archived from the original on 2019-09-02. Retrieved 2020-05-22.

External links

• Official website of the Palio of Feltre

• Cities and towns in Veneto
• Municipalities of the Province of Belluno
• Territories of the Republic of Venice