Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia - Sala dei Battuti
Up a staircase above the Duomo's loggia on Via XX Settembre, a long, narrow room opens into something quietly extraordinary. The Sala dei Battuti stretches roughly 41 metres but only 7 wide, its nine pointed arches giving it the feel of a nave turned on its side — a space that was never meant for crowds, but for a brotherhood reading its faith off the walls.
Twenty-seven frescoes run the length of the room in a continuous cycle of Old and New Testament scenes, painted by Francesco da Milano, Ludovico Toeput (known as Pozzoserrato), Andrea Previtali and Girolamo da Treviso. The paintings were never decoration — they were a catechism in pigment, designed to remind the Battuti brotherhood of the principles they had sworn to live by.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who come back tend to arrive just after the doors open on a weekend morning, when the room is quiet enough to move slowly along the fresco cycle without interruption. Ask one of the Rotary Club volunteers to talk you through the sequence — they know which panels are whose, and the attributions matter here.
The story behind Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia - Sala dei Battuti
The congregation that built this room traced its origins to Umbria around 1260 — one of the flagellant brotherhoods, the Battuti, whose name refers to self-mortification as a form of devotion. Construction on the sala began in 1345, and the meeting room itself was completed in the second half of the 14th century, positioned perpendicular to the church nave below.
The fresco cycle accumulated over time, with multiple painters working across generations to cover the walls with scenes intended as visual instruction for brotherhood members. The room's purpose ended abruptly with a Napoleonic suppression decree in 1806. It became a prison in 1807, a soldiers' shelter in 1847, and fell into neglect until restoration work in the 1960s returned it to something close to its original state.
Good to know
The Sala is open Saturday and Sunday, 10:00–12:00 and 15:00–17:00 (winter) or 16:00–18:00 (summer). Admission is free. Groups of 20 or more can arrange visits on other days with a week's notice via salabattuti.conegliano@gmail.com. Volunteers can also arrange guided tours outside regular hours by phone.
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What travellers say about Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia - Sala dei Battuti
Beautiful!🙌
It free. Iconography of the frescoes are interesting, but the executing is poor. It is kind of nice.
Amazing place
The Hall dates back to the 14th century, after the construction of the Cornegliano Cathedral. It was the meeting place of the Battuti brotherhood. All the walls are divided into panels with frescoes depicting religious scenes by Francesco da Milano. Truly exceptional!
Beautiful even if it "covered" the facade of the cathedral
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