Treviso

Where to stay in Treviso

Born as Roman Tarvisium, Treviso owes its character to water: from the north comes the Botteniga, which divides into several channels crossing the centre — the Cagnan, the Buranelli canal, that of the Pescheria — before joining the Sile south of the walls. It is this web that earned it the nickname of little mainland Venice, and that Dante fixed in the ninth canto of the Paradiso, identifying the city as the place ‘where Sile and Cagnan keep company’.

The centre and the walls

The heart is Piazza dei Signori, with the thirteenth-century Palazzo dei Trecento — half destroyed by the bombing of 7 April 1944 and faithfully rebuilt — and the Civic Tower carrying the Campanon bell. Nearby, the Loggia dei Cavalieri was the meeting place of the medieval nobility, while the cathedral of San Pietro holds an Annunciation by Titian and the church of San Nicolò the frescoes of Tommaso da Modena. The Venetian walls date from the sixteenth century and were raised against the League of Cambrai: today they can be walked along the ramparts.

The water and the Buranelli

The most striking stretch is the Buranelli canal, whose name recalls the fishermen from Burano who once landed here to sell their catch. A little further, the Pescheria island occupies an open space at the fork of the canals and still holds the fish market, reached by small bridges. The Sile, flowing towards the lagoon, is now a regional nature park with cycle paths along its banks.

The table

Treviso is the home of late red radicchio, which a blanching technique renders crisp and bitter, the star of winter festivals. Tradition also credits it with the invention of tiramisù, said to have been created in the 1960s in a local restaurant. To these are added soppressa salami and the ritual of the cicchetto in the osterie, washed down with Prosecco from the nearby hills.

Where to stay and what is nearby

The centre within the walls is compact and liveable, with prices noticeably below Venetian ones: Venice is half an hour by train, and many choose Treviso for exactly this reason. The city airport serves several low-cost airlines. To the north open the Prosecco hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, UNESCO listed since 2019, with Asolo and the foothills. For more see where to stay in Treviso; an overview is in where to stay in Veneto.