Piazza dei Martiri Site Features

The square is long and rectangular rather than formal, planted with trees down its length and arcaded along one side.

The arcades are the standard mainland Veneto device, sheltering the shops and giving the square its social function in a climate with cold winters and wet autumns.

The buildings are three and four storeys, plastered and painted, mostly of the Venetian centuries and later, with no single unified scheme -- the square accumulated rather than being designed.

At the northern end the ground falls away, and the Dolomites appear above the roofline, which is the thing that distinguishes this from any other Veneto town square.

The memorial to the four partisans stands in the square.

The mountain view

The Dolomites above the rooftops at the north end -- the reminder that Belluno is an alpine city, not a plain one.

The arcades

Continuous shelter along one side, and where the city's evening happens.

The memorial

To the four partisans hanged here in March 1945, and the reason for the square's name.

The market

Belluno's weekly market fills the square and is the best time to see it in use.