It is the square of Belluno, a garden in the center of the city, the living room enclosed by an arch of palaces of the most important Belluno families. In the past the square was known as Piazza Campedèl or Campitello. The name indicated the area where fairs, events and the market were held, starting from the ancient Campo di Marte of Roman origin. The square is located just outside the city walls. In the past, along the south side, instead of houses, stood the city walls. At the western end was the castle tower. These walls remained standing until the eighteenth century when, after filling the moat, they began to be demolished for the construction of buildings.
Until 1620, it was possible to enter the city walls of Belluno through two gates, Porta Ussolo, from “ussiolo”, that is, a small gate, called Porta Dante in 1865, and Porta Dojona, the only road accessible from the north throughout the Middle Ages. .
The shape of the square is elliptical because it reflected the bombardment of one of the towers of the castle of Belluno. The cannon could in fact shoot towards the square with a maximum amplitude of 90 meters, while the buildings on the north at the widest point of the ellipse are positioned at 92 meters and therefore could not be touched by any explosions.
During World War II, four young partisans were killed by Nazi soldiers on March 17, 1945. In memory of their sacrifice, their names can be read on four street lamps in the square, where the bodies had been hanged, while in the gardens, designed by architect Alberto Alpago Novello from the 1920s, three bronze sculptures were made in 1965 by the artist from Falcade, Augusto Murer, in memory of this tragic episode.
Today the Piazza dei Martiri is the place of the “liston”, the city walks along the arcades.
Not to be missed: the sixteenth-century church of San Rocco, built following a citizen vote made to the patron saint invoked against the plagues. The Crotta Palace, the Savings Bank, designed by the aforementioned Alpago Novello, Palazzo Cappellari della Colomba, by the Feltre architect Giuseppe Segusini who designed it for the nephew of the Bellunese Pope Gregorio XVI, in the century Mauro Cappellari, in 1835; in the same years the same architect also made the Municipal Theater which is located east of the square, next to the ancient Porta Dojona which still allows entry into the real historical center. The gardens with ancient cedars that pamper a large circular fountain, and a 16-meter-diameter pool, show 69 coats of arms of the municipalities that make up the province of Belluno.
Source: web
ADDRESS
Piazza dei Martiri, 32100, Belluno