Mogliano Veneto

Mogliano was born of a land reclamation: in 997 the bishop of Treviso granted abbot Vitale leave to build a Benedictine monastery here so that the area, abandoned after the invasions, might be drained and repopulated; and when the work was finished, three generations later, the monks gave way to nuns, who stayed in the abbey until the fifteenth century. The name, they say, comes from the estate of a Roman called Molius, and the country roads still keep the pattern of the Roman land division. The Veneto part is recent: it was added in 1868 so as not to confuse the town with the Mogliano that lies in the Marches.

Standing on the Terraglio, the road between Venice and Treviso, was for a long time a misfortune, because every army came through: the monastery was burnt by the Paduans, twice; then came Ezzelino's devastations; then the soldiers of Henry VII set fire to the church. The list closes only when Treviso hands itself to Venice. Since then the same road has changed its trade: the Venetians filled the countryside with villas, the Condulmer with its park and golf course, the Stucky in central European style, the Giustiniani-Palma, and Mogliano became a holiday place, with the tree-lined avenues and art nouveau houses you can still see. Here, in 1893, Toti Dal Monte was born, the soprano over whom La Scala and the world competed. Venice and Treviso are a quarter of an hour away.