Calmaggiore

Calmaggiore is Treviso's main street, a short arcaded run linking Piazza dei Signori to the cathedral. It follows the line of the Roman decumanus, it is porticoed along its whole length, and the frescoed fragments above the arcades are the clearest surviving evidence that Treviso was once a painted city.

Calmaggiore is a functioning high street and the businesses under its arcades serve residents first. Buying here rather than at the airport keeps money in a city that sees very little of what its own airport generates.

The frescoes are exposed to weather and pollution and are slowly going; nothing a visitor does affects them, but they are worth looking at properly while they are legible.

Free, open and pedestrianised. Walking it takes five minutes without stopping. It begins at Piazza dei Signori, about ten minutes from Treviso Centrale station, and ends at the cathedral steps.

The shops along it are ordinary working businesses rather than souvenir outlets, which is much of its character.

Late afternoon and early evening, when the street fills for the passeggiata and the light reaches under the arcades. Bright days are much better for seeing what remains of the frescoes.

It is one of the few sights in Treviso that rain does not spoil, being covered throughout.