Cattedrale di San Martino
The first thing you notice on Piazza Duomo is the campanile — 71 metres of Baroque stone topped by a copper-clad wooden angel, carved by Andrea Brustolon, that pivots with the wind. Filippo Juvarra designed the tower between 1732 and 1743, and it still anchors the square with a quiet authority that the surrounding civic buildings defer to.
Step inside the cathedral and the floor does something unexpected: a checkerboard of white and red Castellavazzo stone stretches the length of three naves, six spans deep, drawing your eye forward. Look up at the side-nave windows and you'll find coloured glass bearing the heraldic emblems of Belluno's old noble families — a reminder that this building has always been as much civic as sacred.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who return tend to head straight for the crypt. The windows down there face the Piave river, so the light shifts with the water and the time of day, and the 14th-century Avoscano family altar sits in that changing light with a stillness the main nave doesn't quite have. Worth the detour every time.
The story behind Cattedrale di San Martino
A church dedicated to San Martino has stood on or near this site since at least 547, when Bishop Felice recorded the dedication. A later structure, its façade oriented toward the Piave, survived until a fire in 1471 made rebuilding unavoidable. The present Renaissance building was designed by Tullio Lombardo and constructed between 1517 and 1624 — a long build that reflects both the ambition and the interrupted resources of a provincial city under Venetian rule.
The cupola wasn't completed until 1756, and the interior continued to accumulate work: frescoes of the Assumption in the apse by Antonio Ermolao Paoletti, altarpieces by Gaspare Diziani, bronze doors by Angelo Canevari, and an organ installed by Mascioni in 1946. Pope John Paul II elevated it to minor basilica status in June 1980.
Good to know
The cathedral sits on Piazza Duomo in Belluno's historic centre, a short walk from Palazzo dei Rettori and Torre Civica. Opening hours aren't posted reliably online — arrive mid-morning to be safe. Bell tower access is intermittent; ask inside. No ticket is required for the cathedral itself.
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What travellers say about Cattedrale di San Martino
I don´t what is more impressive if the quantity or the beauty of the churches in Italy. All the paints and the Italian marbles make this place unique, showing how good the Italian architects are. It stands in the historical centre.
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Best place in Belluno to light candles
This is a magic place... 😊I love it!
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