Eine Route zur Besichtigung der Kirchen im historischen Zentrum der Provinzhauptstadt und der Sakralbauten in den Ortsteilen.
In the city centre, start your tour at the Cathedral. The imposing building with its façade overlooking the square and its apse facing the Piave River stands on the same site as the city’s first main church dedicated to Bishop Martin of Tours. Inside, there are three wide naves and solemn spaces containing valuable works of art by Jacopo Bassano, Lo Schiavone, Cesare Vecellio, Gaspare Diziani, Valentino Panciera Besarel, and Palma the Younger. The high altar will surely draw your attention. Look at the altarpiece made by Piero Muttoni with St Martin along with St Lucan and St Francis on either side and the commissioning canon Francesco Fulcis, set in the monumental marble curtain, kneeling at their feet.
Add San Pietro Church to your list of churches to see. As simple on the outside as it is rich in art treasures on the inside, look at paintings on canvas by Lo Schiavone and the famous wooden altarpieces by Brustolon. The Crucifixion and Death of the Jesuit Saint Francis Xavier will captivate you with its engaging and dynamic composition full of pathos.
You will also find work by Andrea Brustolon in Santo Stefano Church. He did the two angels holding the lamp beside the presbytery and the crucifix with the base depicting Souls in Purgatory.
The works of “the Michelangelo of Wood” are not the only masterpieces at this church, as you can see the works of Cesare Vecellio, Antonio Lazzarini, Frigimelica the Elder, and Antonio Cesa who did the striking frescoes of the Cesa Chapel with a wealth of decorations.
When you have finished seeing the historic centre, the art treasures at churches in the hamlets await you.
Within walking distance from the centre, through the ancient Ruga gate, you can see inside the church of Borgo Piave dedicated to St Nicholas. In the hamlet of Cavarzano, the ancient former parish church of Saints Quirico and Giulitta with its sixteenth-century figurative cycle is worth seeing.
From here you can go to the nearby hamlets of Cusighe and Sala. In Cusighe, be amazed by the Last Supper by Paris Bordon at the Church of Sant’Aronne, while in Sala admire the fifteenth-century frescoes and the beautiful altarpiece made by Antonio da Tisoi.
From Sala go up to the small church of San Liberale to appreciate both the church and its frescoed interiors and the beautiful panorama that opens over Valbelluna valley.
If you want to continue your itinerary, go to Vezzano to the small church of San Giorgio, striking for both its natural setting and its frescoed walls. Keep going toward Bolzano Bellunese and the church of San Pietro where there is an interesting pictorial cycle dedicated precisely to the life of the saint of the same name.
Along the road from Belluno to Feltre, passing on the right side of the Piave River, stop in the hamlet of Salce at the Church of San Bartolomeo containing, among other works, a beautiful wooden statue of Our Lady of Sorrows by Valentino Panciera Besarel, and Santi Fermo e Rustico Church in San Fermo. End your trip in this small building with an ancient foundation that holds a relic of St Firmus, a pompous altar made by Auregne and a tabernacle made by Andrea Brustolon, once also flanked by another work of his with the 4 Evangelists holding the celestial globe now in the Diocesan Museum.
