Possagno
Learn about Possagno
A concise introduction to Possagno, its geography, history and culture.
Introduction
Possagno is a village of about 2,200 people at the foot of Monte Grappa, in the province of Treviso, twenty minutes north of Asolo. It exists on the map for one reason: Antonio Canova, the most celebrated sculptor in Europe in his lifetime, was born here in 1757 and is buried here.
Two buildings carry that legacy, and they sit within a few hundred metres of each other. On the hillside above the village stands the Tempio Canoviano, the parish church Canova designed and paid for himself — a Greek portico, a Roman rotunda and a Christian apse reconciled into one building by a sculptor working out what a church ought to be. Below it, beside the house where he was born, the Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova holds the plaster models from his Roman studio, the full-size originals from which his marbles were cut.
The village around them is unassuming — a main street, a few bars, brick kilns on the outskirts that have been firing terracotta here for generations. Most visitors come for a half day from Asolo or Bassano del Grappa and leave surprised by how much there was.