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Home / history / venice

Local History

[ Origins /Roman Age ] [ The Middle Age ] [Venice ] [The austrian rule ] [The last century]

Venice

In 1420, an act of union with Venice was defined, and from that year on the fate of the Belluno area followed that of Venice until its final fall; in 1797, with the Campoformio treaty, the Veneto region was annexed by Austria. This long period of beneficial peace had been interrupted by the war of the Cambrais League (1508-1512, a struggle between Venice and Maximillian I of Hapsburg). Our town was a victim of war calamities more than any other town in Veneto: the whole province was turned into a charred battlefield. 
The spontaneous annexation to Venice entailed a treaty with which Venice respected and accepted the existing political structures of Belluno, mainly the Nobles Council. It took a long time before Venice deprived those institutions of their political value, totally replacing them. The rule of Venice was inspired by pragmatism and conservatism. 
"Political autonomy was an excuse not to carry out any development policy in the Belluno area: the latter was valued by Venice mostly for its enviable strategic position (from Belluno, it was possible to defend the plains of Veneto in their totality from north). 
Venice was also interested in the raw materials of the Belluno area: timber and minerals that provided a cheap naval activity and low-cost manufacture (wood, wrought iron). One could say that the attitude of Venice was more inspired by exploitation than by development. For the sake of clarity, it should be noted that the attitude of Venice was the logical consequence of its conservative government. In return, Venice gained loyalty, especially from the farmers and the common people, who did not gain anything, but did nonetheless regard Venice as an intermediary figure, capable of defending their rights". (Gigetto De Bortoli, in Belluno: storia architettura arte, Istituto Bellunese di Ricerche Sociali e Culturali Serie "Varie" - N.9, Belluno 1984).
In this period, the urban texture renewed itself as new houses and palaces were built by the nobles and the new born burgeoisie, in a new climate which was favoured by the intense relationship with Venice (commerce of timber and swords); the city expanded itself northwards beyond the walls, merged itself with the smaller towns along the two rivers on the south and the east, where forges, tanneries, sawmills and mills were built. 
The "Palazzo dei Nobili" (demolished in the 18th century) and the "Palazzo dei Rettori" (end of the 15th century, nowadays a prefecture) left in the square of the Cathedral the signature of the architecture from Venice.

The constant relation with Venice is documented, from the 16th century onwards, also by the work of the artists from Belluno, who frequented the workshops in Venice and brought back strong cultural influences (especially Tiziano).

Many were the artists, poets, scientists and men of culture in general that, from the 16th century to the era of the Habsburg rule "brought honor to the Belluno fatherland". 

We can only list a few: Piero Valeriano (1447) tutor and writer (he has written on the flow of the river Piave from its source to its mouth); Francesco Frigimelica the Elder, a painter working between the end of the 16th century and 1646, who elaborated a personal and valuable pictorial style that elevated him above his contemporaries; Tito Livio Burattini (Agordo 1617 - Krakow 1681), mathematician, physicist, architect; Andrea Brustolon (1622 - 1732), the most celebrated woodcarver from Veneto in the 18th century; Sebastiano Ricci (Belluno 1659 – Venice 1734) one of the greatest european painters (his nephew Marco (1676 - 1730) was also a noteworthy painter, specialised in landscapes); Gaspare Diziani (Belluno 1689 - Venice 1767), whose frescos can be admired in the Cathedral; Gerolamo Segato (Vedana 1792 – Florence 1836) who owes his fame to a technique to petrify human and animal tissues (still shrouded by mystery), but also to his archeological research in Egypt. Other names should be added to this list; more information can be found in the following pages.

The Piave River was, during these centuries, the most important commercial way (rafts) to transport the timber from the woods of Cadore to Venice, where it served the activities of the craftsmen. Several ports and sawmills were also built along the flow of the river.

St.Marc's lion

Place Campitello (XVIII century); on the background: the castle tower

View of La Caminada on 1493, demolished on 1835 to build the Justice Palace

G.MOECH, Vue du Borgo Piave: détail d'une barque chargée de morceaux de moulin

Palazzo del Podestà (Rettori), 1491 - 1536; the -torion de le hore- is visible.
Detail of an engraving by F.Monaco (in: edited by G.Secco, La Piave, Ed.Belumat, Belluno 1992)

A. Saffer (Belluno 1831-1905), a raft on the Piave (detail)

F. Guardi, view of Venise - note the boat with two figures