Feltre gave humanism its most celebrated teacher: Vittorino da Feltre, born here in 1378, whose Ca' Zoiosa school in Mantua effectively invented modern education. His hometown — 20,525 residents between the Piave river and the Feltre Dolomites — is itself a lesson in art: razed by imperial troops in 1510, it was rebuilt with the frescoed palaces that earned it the name of "painted city".
Via Mezzaterra climbs between those sixteenth-century façades to Piazza Maggiore, among the most theatrical squares in the Veneto. In early August the Palio di Feltre re-enacts the town's 1404 dedication to Venice, four quarters competing with races and crossbows.
Near Feltre
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
