The local tourist office offers a walking tour of the town, with the focus on what it looked like in the past.
This building was once Treviso’s hospital, founded by the Brotherhood of the Battuti, a religious group that practiced flagellation (battuti = beaten.) The group came to Treviso in the thirteenth century. They focused on serving the poor and needy, establishing this hospital as part of their good work. Now it is the site of a university. The guide shows historical photographs of each site visited.
An artist accompanies the group and shows her paintings of the damage inflicted by the bombs falling on Treviso in a surprise attack of April 7, 1944. Here she shows the Loggia dei Cavalieri, where centuries past noblemen gathered to gossip and play games like chess.
Along the river another artwork in metal by Mario Martinelli. His work is found throughout Treviso,
This waterway in Treviso is called the Buranelli Canal, named for the fishmongers from the Island of Burano who sold fish here in the 16th century. Women used to wash clothes in the canal, as shown by the photograph from the 19th century.
A wedding party preparing for a photoshoot?
The artist shows her image of the cathedral after it was bombed. This site is right next door to my apartment. I learn from the guide that the building had been part of the cathedral’s property and had housed its offices.
This tour couldn’t help focus on the horrendous bombing that surprised Treviso on April 7, 1944. The city had not been bombed to that point and did not expect it. The U.S. Army Air Force dropped 2000 bombs over a five minute period. The target was the railway yard, but the siting was inaccurate, and bombs fell all over the city, destroying most of it. Over one thousand civilians were killed, including many children.
This particular building is not on the tour. It stands across from the Loggia dei Cavalieri, which was hit by the bombs, but it managed to escape the destruction.
It is amazing to see eighty years later how the city rebuilt and revived. Still the war’s presence is evident most everywhere in today’s Treviso in the modern buildings standing adjacent to the historic ones.