The Rough Guide to Venice and the Veneto

to some it was Castaldi rather than Gutenberg who was the first European to
develop moveable type – the inscription on the plinth categorically declares
him to be its inventor. Vittorino’s fame rests on the school he ran in Mantua
in the first half of the fifteenth century, under the financial patronage
of the Gonzaga family, which took in pupils from aristocratic families and
unprivileged backgrounds alike, and put them through a regimen in which,
for the first time, a broad liberal education was combined with a programme
of physical training.
Behind Piazza Maggiore rises the keep of the medieval castello, just below
which stands the church of San Rocco – go round the back for a good view
of the mountains. The carved wall between the steps going up to the church
is a fountain by Tullio Lombardo.
To the left as you look across at San Rocco, the main street of Feltre, Via
Mezzaterra, slopes down to the fifteenth-century Porta Imperiale. Nearly all
the houses here are sixteenth-century, and several are decorated with external
frescoes by Lorenzo Luzzo (1467–1512) and his pupils. Feltre’s most
important artistic figure, Luzzo is more widely known as Il Morto da Feltre
(The Dead Man . . .), a nickname prompted by the pallor of his complexion.
Having begun with spells in Rome and Florence, Il Morto’s career received
something of a boost when he was called in to help Giorgione on the Fondaco
dei Tedeschi in Venice.
The Museo Civico (April–Oct Tues–Fri 10.30am–12.30pm & 4–7pm, Sat
& Sun 9.30am–12.30pm & 4–7pm; Nov–March same morning times, but
then 3–6pm; e4, or e5 joint ticket with Museo Rizzarda), at the end of Via
L. Luzzo, the equally decorous continuation of Via Mezzaterra on the other
side of the piazza, contains Il Morto’s Madonna with St Vitus and St Modestus
and other pieces by him, plus paintings by Cima and Gentile Bellini, and a
display of Roman and Etruscan finds. Il Morto’s finest work is generally held
to be the fresco of the Transfiguration in the Ognissanti church; this building
is very unlikely to be open in the foreseeable future, but if you want to try
your luck, go out of the Porta Oria, right by the Museo, down the dip and
then along Borgo Ruga for a couple of hundred metres.
Feltre has another, more unusual museum – the Museo Rizzarda (same
hours and prices as Museo Civico) at Via del Paradiso 8, parallel to Via Mezzaterra.
This doubles as the town’s collection of modern art and an exhibition
of wrought-iron work, most of it by Carlo Rizzarda (1883–1931), the
former owner of the house. It might not sound appetizing, but the finesse
of Rizzarda’s pieces is remarkable. The frescoed building at the piazza end
of Via del Paradiso is the Monte di Pietà, one of the few fifteenth-century
buildings to escape the wrath of the Imperial hordes.
Practicalities
Feltre’s tourist office is just inside the Porta Imperiale at Piazzetta Trento e
Trieste 9 ( June–Sept daily 9am–12.30pm & 3.30–6.30pm; Oct–May closed
Sun afternoon; t0439.2540, wwww.infodolomiti.it). It’s not very likely
that you’ll want to stay overnight in Feltre, but if you do, choose between
two three-star hotels: the Nuovo, Vicolo Fornere Pazze 5 (t0439.2110,
f0439.89241; 1), and the Doriguzzi, Viale del Piave 2 (t0439.2902, wwww.
hoteldoriguzzi.it; 1–2). For a bite to eat, wander down Via Mezzaterra,
where the Hostaria Novecento at no. 26 and the Osteria Mezzaterra at no. 5 both
have good menus.
the northern veneto
| Feltre
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