Hotel Europa Belluno
Belluno - Via Vittorio Veneto 158/O
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Framed by the Dolomites to the north and the Venetian Pre-Alps to the south, Belluno is an elegant city where you can already breathe in the mountain air. It can be reached quickly thanks to a motorway that arrives as far as the gates of the centre, and from here it is a snap to see the most beautiful peaks.
Coloured green in summer and white in winter, a holiday in Belluno is always regenerating. The province’s treasures include a worldly resort such as Cortina d’Ampezzo, a haunt of VIPs and lovers of après-ski aperitifs, and others that are simpler, still genuinely tied to mountain traditions and the slow rhythms of life at high altitudes. All wonderful.
But why not stop off in Belluno before putting on your ski or hiking boots? It is a beautiful city on a human scale; the centre, almost entirely closed to traffic, is pleasant to walk around and combines Alpine atmospheres with a sober elegance with Venetian echoes.
Its name, of Celtic origin, means ‘luminous city’: a fine calling card for this city too often snubbed by tourists and much loved by the writer Dino Buzzati.
The city of Belluno is very elegant: it cannot boast internationally renowned attractions, but it is rich in beautiful palaces and historical monuments, such as the Palazzo Rosso (seat of the Town Hall), the Palazzo dei Rettori (seat of the Prefecture), the Civic Tower and the Palazzo Crepadona (seat of the civic library).
Here is a list of the key sights for your visit to the historic centre of Belluno.
The nerve centre of city life in Belluno is the central Piazza dei Martiri. The current name recalls a key episode of the local Resistance; before 1954 the square was called Campedel (Campitello).
It is the classic piazza-salon, where people stroll to show off and in turn watch people go by. Some of the city’s most important open-air events are organised here.
Another lively square in Belluno is Piazza delle Erbe, better known as Piazza Mercato (Market Square).
Among the historical buildings facing the square is the 16th-century Monte di Pietà to which the Church of the Beata Vergine della Salute is attached. Completed in 1531, the building still retains some original features such as the door reinforced with iron slats and some fresco decorations in the interior rooms.
There is also a fountain dating back to the early 14th century: the Fountain of San Lucano.
Dedicated to St Martin of Tours, patron saint of the city, the Cathedral of Belluno was built in the second half of the 15th century on the remains of an earlier church destroyed by fire; this, in turn, had been built on the site of an 11th-century early Christian church.
It is the city’s most famous church, mainly due to the splendid Baroque bell tower that was added in 1732; 68 metres high, the bell tower is surmounted by a statue of an angel.
Inside, the church houses valuable works of art by some of the most important exponents of Venetian painting: Jacopo Bassano, Palma il Giovane and Cesare Vecellio (the latter being the son of Ettore Vecellio, cousin of the more famous Titian).
The MIM in Belluno uses modern technology to narrate the past in an engaging way. The multimedia installations of the Interactive Museum of Migration are designed to get visitors excited about the human stories of those who left their homeland to seek their fortune elsewhere.
Migration is a phenomenon that has profoundly marked the history and identity of Belluno today: once a city to leave, it has become a point of reference for the reception of today’s migrants.
Housed inside the headquarters of the Associazione Bellunesi nel Mondo (Association of Bellunesi in the World), the museum is arranged over three rooms and includes a section entirely dedicated to eight emigrants from Belluno who have left their mark on the history of humanity. Alongside famous personalities such as the writer Buzzati or Pope Luciani, others less well-known but capable of extraordinary feats are remembered.
For a magnificent view of the centre of Belluno with the mountains in the background, cross the Ponte della Vittoria, a historic bridge built between 1923 and 1926 to replace a 19th-century bridge.
This elegant single-arch construction was designed by the Venetian Eugenio Miozzi.
The Belluno Civic Museum boasts an exceptional location: Palazzo Fulcis, a skilfully restored stately home. There are no less than 24 museum rooms on five floors, all embellished with 18th-century stuccoes and frescoes.
The museum exhibits a collection of works of art by local artists: on display are paintings, sculptures, porcelain and jewellery.
There is also a prestigious venue for Belluno’s second civic museum, this time dedicated to archaeology: the Palazzo dei Giuristi. The building was built in 1664 to house the Collegio dei Giuristi, an organisation that brought together all Belluno law graduates from the University of Padua.
The archaeological museum occupies two rooms of the elegant palace; the collection includes artefacts found in the Belluno area covering a very long period of time (from the Palaeolithic to the early Middle Ages).
In the following map you can see the location of the main places of interest mentioned in this article.
Sleeping in Belluno is an unusual choice for tourists because everyone prefers to stay in the nearby mountain resorts. However, booking a hotel in the centre of Belluno can be a good solution for those who want to break up a long trip or for those who love the mountains but do not want to give up the comforts of the city.
Although not a tourist resort, the choice of hotel facilities is very wide and includes budget hotels, 4-star hotels, B&Bs and flats.
Although surrounded by mountains, Belluno is easily reached by car and by public transport.
Getting to Belluno by car is really easy because you just take the A27 motorway from Venice and follow it all the way. If you are coming from other places in Veneto, you can enter the A27 from two other motorways: the A4 Turin-Trieste and the A28 Portogruaro-Conegliano. Once you get close to the centre, it is advisable to leave your car at the Lambioi car park, from which you can walk up effortlessly thanks to an escalator.
The railway station is located in the city centre and is served by regional trains departing from Padua or Venice. Belluno is also connected by local and regional buses to all the main resorts in the Dolomites and the main cities in the Veneto region.
The closest airports to Belluno are those of Venice and Treviso, both easily reached by car and connected by a transfer bus service (pay attention to timetables, however, as many runs are seasonal).
What's the weather at Belluno? Below are the temperatures and the weather forecast at Belluno for the next few days.
The surroundings of Belluno are much more visited than the city centre. No wonder: the province of Belluno includes some of the most renowned holiday resorts and the most spectacular scenic attractions in the Dolomites.
No one can take away the queen’s sceptre from Cortina d’Ampezzo, a chic resort set against a natural backdrop of extraordinary beauty.
Other natural wonders not to be missed in the province of Belluno are the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, the Marmolada, Le Tofane, Lake Misurina and Lake Alleghe, and the Belluno Dolomites National Park.
The province of Belluno has also been the scene of some key episodes in contemporary history. Many of the trails that delight hikers and mountaineers today were created for military needs, and some of the most painful battles of the First World War were fought here. There are numerous museums dedicated to the memory of the war and themed trails along which you can see trenches, tunnels and forts.
Belluno is a provincial capital city located in northern Veneto: the provincial territory corresponds to the northern tip of the region.
It is about 110 km from Venice, a distance similar to those separating this city from Trento and Bolzano (both to the east, the former more or less at the same latitude, Bolzano further north).
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