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{{Infobox Italian comune
| name                = Feltre
| official_name       = Comune di Feltre
| native_name         =
| image_skyline       = DuomoFeltre.jpg
| imagesize           =
| image_alt           =
| image_caption       = The Cathedral of Feltre
| image_shield        = CoA_Feltre.svg
| shield_alt          =
| image_map           =
| map_alt             =
| map_caption         =
| pushpin_label_position =
| pushpin_map_alt     =
| coordinates         = {{coord|46|01|07|N|11|54|36|E|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_footnotes =
| region              = [[Veneto]]
| province            = [[Province of Belluno|Belluno]] (BL)
| frazioni            = see [[Feltre#Frazioni|list]]
| mayor               = [[Viviana Fusaro]]
| area_footnotes      =
| area_total_km2      = 100
| population_footnotes =
| population_total    = 20560
| population_as_of    = December 31, 2007
| pop_density_footnotes =
| population_demonym  = Feltrini
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m         = 325
| twin1               =
| twin1_country       =
| saint               = Saints Victor and Corona
| day                 = May 14
| postal_code         = 32032
| area_code           = 0439
| website             = {{official website|http://www.comune.feltre.bl.it}}
| footnotes           =
}}
'''Feltre''' ({{IPA|it|ˈfeltre}}; {{langx|vec|Fèltre}}) is a town and ''[[comune]]'' of the [[province of Belluno]] in [[Veneto]], northern [[Italy]]. A hill town in the southern reaches of the province, it is located on the [[Stizzon River]], about {{convert|4|km|0|abbr=off}} from its junction with the [[Piave (river)|Piave]], and {{convert|20|km|0|abbr=on}} southwest from [[Belluno]]. The [[Dolomites]] loom to the north of the town.
[[File:PanoramaFeltre.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Panorama of Feltre in winter]]
An area incorporating Feltre and 12 contiguous municipalities is known as {{Interlanguage link|Feltrino (territory)|it|Feltrino (territorio)|lt=Feltrino}}. In 2014, the Feltrino area was formalised in the [[Unione Montana Feltrina]] (Feltrino Mountain Community).
== History ==
It was known in Roman times as '''Feltria''' and described as an ''[[oppidum]]'' by [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]],<ref>Among ''Rhaetica oppida'' in ''Natural History'' iii, 130, amending ''Fertini'' to ''Feltrini''.</ref> who assigned its foundation to the Alpine tribe of the [[Rhaetians]]. The city obtained the status of ''[[municipium]]'' in 49 BC with its citizens inscribed into the Roman tribe of ''Menenia''. In spite of its rigorous climate, which led a Roman author, perhaps Caesar, to write:
<blockquote>''Feltria perpetuo niveum damnata rigore''<br>
''Atque mihi posthac haud adeunda, vale''<ref>"Feltria, condemned to the rigor of eternal snows, from me too, who henceforth will scarcely approach you, Farewell!" The distich, given here as in Charles Stephens and [[Nicholas Lloyd (compiler)|Nicholas Lloyd]], ''Dictionarium historicum...'' (London, 1686) ''s.v.'' "Feltria, is often attributed to [[Julius Caesar]] (Robert Pierpont, ''Notes and Queries'', 26 October 1907, p. 332).</ref></blockquote>
Feltria lay on a [[Roman road]] mentioned in the [[Antonine Itinerary]] as passing from Opitergium ([[Oderzo]]) through Feltria to Tridentum ([[Trento]]).<ref>William Smith, ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'', ''s.v.'' "Feltria".</ref>
[[File:SanRoccoFeltre.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The Church of St. Roch and the Castle of Alboin]]
After the fall of the [[Western Empire]], under which it had developed into a flourishing city, it became a [[Lombards|Lombard]] dominion. Later in the Middle Ages, it was ruled by [[Ezzelino III da Romano]], by the Camino family, and then by the [[Scaliger]]i of [[Verona]], from 1315 to 1337. Feltre was subsequently under [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor]], the da Carrara and the [[Visconti of Milan|Visconti]] until 1404, when, together with [[Belluno]], it was conquered by the [[Republic of Venice]]. In 1499 it received a new line of walls.
In 1509 the center of the town was mostly destroyed during battles between the Venetians and the [[League of Cambrai]], and later rebuilt with a characteristic 16th-century style. In 1797, after the [[History of the Republic of Venice#The fall of the Republic|capitulation of Venice to Napoleon]], it was ruled for some time by the French. Napoleon made his minister of war, [[Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke]], Duke of Feltre in 1807. After the [[Congress of Vienna]] (1814), Feltre was assigned to the [[Austrian Empire]], to which it remained until it was joined to the [[Kingdom of Italy]] in 1866.
It was besieged by [[Austria]] during [[World War I]].
During [[World War II]], [[Adolf Hitler]] demanded a meeting with [[Benito Mussolini]] to discuss his strategy for defending Italy from the Allied Armies since the Axis armies had just surrendered [[Tunis]] to the [[British Army]], giving Allied Armies total control of North Africa. This meeting took place on July 19, 1943 in Feltre, Italy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shirer|first=William|title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich|url=https://archive.org/details/risefallthirdreich00shir|url-access=registration|orig-year=1959|year=1960|publisher=Simon and Schuster, Inc.|page=[https://archive.org/details/risefallthirdreich00shir/page/996 996]}}</ref>
Notable people of Feltre include [[Panfilo Castaldi]], printer; [[Bernardine of Feltre]], Friar Minor, missionary and founder of Monti di Pietà; [[Vittorino da Feltre]], humanist educator; and [[Morto da Feltre]], painter.
== Main sights ==
*The Cathedral, dedicated to [[St. Peter]] and rebuilt in Renaissance times. It has maintained from the preceding buildings the apse and the 14th-century campanile. The interior has works by [[Pietro Marescalchi]] and some 17th-century wooden statues. The church is flanked by the 15th-century [[baptistry]], housing a precious Medieval baptismal font from 1399. Under the cathedral is an excavated archaeological area of {{convert|1000|m²|2|abbr=on}} belonging to the ancient Roman city.
*The Imperial Gate (1489, restored in 1545), from which the Via Mezzaterra starts. This is faced by the noteworthy ''Casa Crico'', ''Casa Cantoni'' and ''Palazzo Muffoni''.
*''Palazzo Salce''.
*The ''Palazzo della Ragione'' (16th century), the current Town Hall, with a [[Palladian]] style portico. It opens to the ''Piazza Maggiore'' with a fountain by [[Tullio Lombardo]] and a column surmounted by the Lion of St. Mark. In the same piazza are ''Palazzo Guarnieri'' and a Baroque staircase leading to the church of St. Roch (1576–1632), flanked by the so-called "Castle of [[Alboin]]" with the ''Torre dell'Orologio'', once part of the Roman defensive apparatus. The Castle's attribution to the Lombard kingdom of Alboin has no historical evidence.
*The ''Pinacoteca'', in Palazzo Villabruna, has works by [[Morto da Feltre]], [[Cima da Conegliano]], [[Gentile Bellini]], Pietro Marescalchi and others.
*The church and the monastery of ''Santa Maria degli Angeli'', begun in 1492, but entirely renovated in the 19th century, has maintained part of the ancient cloister. It houses a painting by [[Jacopo Bassano]].
Outside the city are:
*The sanctuary of ''SS. Vittore e Corona'' (12th&ndash;15th century), dedicated to [[Saints Victor and Corona]], outside the city shows a mix of Byzantine and Renaissance styles, and is home to some 14th-century [[Giotto]]esque frescoes. Sculptures include the ''martyrium'' that houses the relics of the two Eastern saints and a small statue of St. Victor.
*The late Renaissance ''Villa Pasole - Berton'' stands on the site of the Castle of Pedavena, destroyed by Emperor Charles IV in 1350.
== ''Frazioni'' ==
Anzù, Arson, Canal, Cart, Cellarda, Croci, Farra, Foen, Grum, Lamen, Lasen, Mugnai, Nemeggio, Pont, Pren, Sanzan, Tomo, Umin, Vellai, Vignui, Villabruna, Villaga, Villapaiera, Zermen.
== Notable people ==
* [[Panfilo Castaldi]], printer
* [[Beatification|Blessed]] [[Bernardine of Feltre]], Friar Minor, missionary and founder of [[Monti di Pietà]]
* [[Vittorino da Feltre]], humanist educator
* [[Morto da Feltre]], painter
==Twin towns – sister cities==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Italy}}
Feltre is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web|title=Migrazione e integrazione nel convegno internazionale tenuto a Feltre|url=https://www.marcopologeie.eu/5-marco-polo/news/124-convegno-gemellaggi-a-feltre|website=marcopologeie.eu|publisher=Feltre|language=it|access-date=2020-05-22|archive-date=2021-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228063949/https://www.marcopologeie.eu/5-marco-polo/news/124-convegno-gemellaggi-a-feltre|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Villes jumelées|url=https://www.dudelange.lu/fr/a-propos/d%C3%A9couvrir-la-ville/villes-jumel%C3%A9es|website=dudelange.lu|publisher=Dudelange|language=fr|access-date=2020-05-22|archive-date=2019-09-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902174436/https://www.dudelange.lu/fr/a-propos/d%25C3%25A9couvrir-la-ville/villes-jumel%25C3%25A9es|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Bagnols-sur-Cèze]], France
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Braunfels]], Germany
*{{flagicon|ESP}} [[Carcaixent]], Spain
*{{flagicon|LUX}} [[Dudelange]], Luxembourg
*{{flagicon|BEL}} [[Eeklo]], Belgium
*{{flagicon|HUN}} [[Kiskunfélegyháza]], Hungary
*{{flagicon|ENG}} [[Newbury, Berkshire|Newbury]], England, United Kingdom
{{div col end}}
== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Feltre piazzamaggiore.jpg|Piazza Maggiore
File:feltre0.jpg|Historical Centre; view from via Panoramica
File:feltre1.jpg|View of via Roma
File:feltre2.jpg|View to the [[Dolomites]] from via Tezze
File:Feltre 015.jpg|the Duomo of Feltre
</gallery>
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.paliodifeltre.it/?duomo Official website of the Palio of Feltre]
{{commons category|Feltre}}
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{{Province of Belluno}}
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[[Category:Cities and towns in Veneto]]
[[Category:Territories of the Republic of Venice]]