Conegliano - Conegliano

Conegliano is a city of Veneto in the province of Treviso, located along the "Strada del Prosecco", at the foot of the Prosecco hills that precede the Belluno Prealps, halfway between Treviso is Belluno.

To know

Geographical notes

Conegliano is located at the foot of the Prosecco hills that precede the Belluno Prealps, in an intermediate position between the Veneto-Friuli plain and the mountains.

Background

The area, located halfway between the mountain and the plain and a crossing point to reach Friuli, has always been a strategic site. A fortress controlled by the bishops of Belluno was built around the 10th century, but probably of Roman origins. The toponym itself seems to derive from the Latin cuniculus indicating the underground passages of the castle.

Conegliano "was born" however in the twelfth century, when a group of noble families organized themselves by creating a municipal government around the fortress, with the consequent formation of a village. The Conegliano castle it always remained the center of power, both civil (with the seat of the podesta office) and religious (with the collegiate church of San Leonardo). The craft and agricultural activities were encouraged by the foundation of numerous monasteries: Santa Maria in Mater Domini (1231), the convent of the Umiliati Fathers of San Polo (1316), Sant'Antonio, San Francesco dei Frati Minori (1231), not to mention hospices and lay congregations.

With the bloody assault of 1153, Conegliano was immediately subjected to the municipality of Treviso which strengthened its defenses, rebuilding the castle, given the key position towards Friuli with the domains of the Patriarchate of Aquileia. The town followed the fate of the Marca and passed to the Ezzelini and the Scaligeri, who provided it with new fortifications. Even with the Republic of Venice, to which Treviso passed in 1337, and the brief parenthesis of the Carraresi (1384-1388) the work was continued and a wall was raised to enclose the village. The fortification and expansion works continued in the following centuries, despite the disastrous attack of the troops of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1411. The town was also embellished with stately and institutional buildings but the decline made itself felt already after the war of the League by Cambrai.

In the eighteenth century the castle, already in ruins for some time, was largely demolished to provide salvage material useful for new buildings, including the Palazzo Comunale (1744).

Following the fall of the Republic of Venice, the city passed to Napoleon and finally to the Austrians who developed its economy and infrastructure. With the construction of the Strada Maestra d'Italia and the railway (1858) the vital center of the town moved further south, around the station. In 1866 it passed with the whole of Veneto to the Kingdom of Italy. In 1917, after the rout of Caporetto, Conegliano was occupied by the Central Empires and suffered considerable damage. The city was subsequently able to recover thanks to the fervent economic activities (dairy products, wine, mechanical workshops, etc.).

How to orient yourself

The historic center, of medieval origin, is concentrated mostly along via XX Settembre (called Contrada Granda), which flows at the foot of Colle di Giano, on the top of which stand the neoclassical Villa Gera and the surviving part of the medieval castle (seat of the Civic Museum): the whole area is still largely surrounded by ancient walls. Other places of artistic interest are also found outside the walls, such as some Venetian villas.

How to get

By car

Conegliano is located almost halfway between Treviso (to whose province it belongs) e Belluno, both easily reachable thanks to the motorway .

On the train

Conegliano station is located along the railway line Venice - Udine and it is also the terminus of the railway Bridge in the Alps-Conegliano.

How to get around

The historic center can be reached on foot in a few minutes from the train station and can be easily explored on foot.

What see

The city of Conegliano, linked to a long religious and monastic tradition that has interested it for long centuries, preserves many religious architectures: inside the walls of the ancient city and around them there are the most ancient and important churches (among all the Duomo ), old oratories and the surviving monasteries.

• 45.88653312.2959081 Duomo (Cathedral of San Leonardo). Its facade is set between the buildings of the district; it is covered by the elegant ogival arched structure of the Battuti School: on the facade of this there is a large fresco, considered the largest mural fresco in the Veneto and painted book on the road. Both the frescoes that embellish the exterior and those of the interior (Sala dei Battuti) are by Pozzoserrato and made in the sixteenth century. Inside the Cathedral, a sober structure with three naves, it is possible to admire the only work by Cima to be preserved in his hometown: the Conegliano altarpiece, dated 1492 and placed behind the main altar. Also noteworthy is the representative canvas Saint Catherine baptized by the hermit by Palma il Giovane, placed above the portal.  
• 45.88314612.290692 Church of Sant'Antonio di Padova (located in Parco Rocca, adjacent to the civil hospital). It is the church of the Capuchin friars, where the convent is still vital. The current church of the Capuchin friars dates back to 1944 and was designed by Giovanni Morassutti. The saint had visited the Coneglianese friars in the early thirteenth century, when their headquarters were outside the walls of the old city. Only in the sixteenth century the friars were able to have a convent near the center, in the same area on which the hospital stands today (which took its place in the twentieth century): here the friars remained until 1810, when the edicts of Napoleon Bonaparte led to the suppression of all religious orders. In 1929 the friars minor returned to Conegliano, in the same convent, which, once dismantled, was replaced by the current complex.
  The church of Sant'Antonio is a simple building, with a gabled façade opened by a large rose window and a rectangular portal. Internally the space is that of a single nave plastered in white and embellished with some pictorial and sculptural works traditionally linked to the history of the Capuchins of Conegliano, among which the Last Supper by Pietro Bernardi, dating back to the end of the 16th century, stands out. The convent is annexed to the church, with a cloister with round arches, in the center of which there is a well, surrounded by the garden.  
• 45.88947512.2950923 Castle (Civic Museum). it is the medieval fulcrum of the Venetian town. Located on the top of Colle di Giano, in a strategic place, the castle dominates the whole city and the surrounding area. The oldest records of the fortress date back to the 12th century. It is possible to make reconstructions of the original structure and its evolution only on the basis of pictorial evidence: in fact, of the original castle complex today only the Bell tower, part of the ancient cathedral and part of the walls survive. The castle houses the Conegliano Civic Museum, in which there are several sections, divided by floor: the picture gallery on the ground floor, the larger room, houses paintings of great value, as evidenced by the names of Giambattista Pittoni ("S. Francesco di Paola ", 1750), Palma the Younger and Pordenone; on the upper floors there are Roman finds found in the Conegliano area and other objects of historical interest; the top floor of the tower is dedicated to personalities linked to Conegliano. Inside there is a model, made by Ennio Tiveron from Treviso, on a scale of 1/72 of the castle at the time of the Serenissima. At the end of the visit you can enjoy the panorama of the city and the whole surrounding area: the Venetian plain to the Venice lagoon, a large part of the Friuli plain, the morainic hills of the Treviso area and the Pre-Alps.  

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Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Conegliano
• Commons contains images or other files on Conegliano
• Wikinews contains current news on Conegliano

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