Leaving Jesolo I headed north along the plain and decided on seeing a few sites around eastern Veneto. My first stop was the Military Memorial of Fagarè della Battaglia, located right next to a main road. A first monument was erected here a year after the end of WWI. During the fascist period, in 1933 a new memorial was built to honor the over ten thousand fallen soldiers who died during the battle for the Piave River, nearby, and who now rest there. Also resting here is an American Red Cross officer, Lieutenant Edward McKey, a personal friend of writer Ernest Hemingway and the only U.S. who died on the Italian front. Next to the ossuary are also two preserved wall fragments from a house once located close to the river on which unknown people wrote, during the Battle of the Solstice, two famous inscriptions: "It is better to live a day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep ‘ and ’All heroes. Either the Piave or all slugged". Once inside I stopped to talk with two volunteers who in turn kept the ossuary open. They are alpini, the Italian Army's specialist mountain infantry, now retired, and were surprised and happy to see a young visitor. We spoke a bit and then I toured the building, admiring also the nice small museum of WWI in one of the rooms. After the visit, I got back in the car and drove on to reach the church of San Giovanni Battista in the town of Tempio. Built in the 12th century it was an important stop along the ancient Roman road, Via Postumia, and owned by the Templar order. It then passed to the Knights Hospitaller order, and despite being refurbished throughout the centuries it kept most of its Romanesque style and form. The interior holds some traces of frescoes but it's the exterior, with the portico, which has an interesting cycle of frescoes, painted in three successive phases from the 12th and 13th centuries to the 16th century. A short drive led me to the nearby town of San Polo di Piave where I visited the church of San Giorgio surrounded by a tiny cemetery. Originally dating to the 11th century the current building is from the 15th century and preserves some beautiful frescoes in the interior by Giovanni di France, including an evocative Last Supper on whose table appear, next to bread and wine, crayfish and river fish from the area. In the town center of San Polo di Piave, I visited the parish church dedicated to St Paul rebuilt in a neorenaissance style in 1922 after being damaged during WW1 and following the collapse of its bell tower in 1917. Facing the parish church is the picturesque Papadopoli-Giol castle, rebuilt in neo-Gothic style in the 19th century and with an English garden surrounding it. A brief stop in the nearby locality of Rai brought me to a small motte and bailey on top of which stands the ruins of a medieval tower. Originally part of a larger complex and probably of Roman origin it had a very long history and remained almost intact until 1918, but was destroyed by the retreating Austrians at the end of the Great War as well as suffering serious damage by a hurricane shortly after in 1925. After that I drove on, passing through the town of Tezze di Piave which is an impressive but abandoned Villa Giamomini, Biscaro, Zanon. Not far from there I then reached and visited the Borgo Malanotte, a small village frozen in time. It consists of a main villa, Villa Dirce, flanked by what were once the living quarters of the servants and peasants who cultivated the villa's estates under a latifundial first and later sharecropping arrangement. The place is now a picturesque array of old houses lining a main street and really feels like stepping back in time. After some driving, I stopped at a supermarket to grab some food for lunch and then moved on to the next destination. I reached the town of Nervesa della Battaglia, and after parking the car next to the church of San Giovanni Battista with the town's cemetery I started heading uphill. I was in the Montello, a large 13km long hill that reaches a height of 400m at its highest point, due to its size it's neither a hill nor a mountain but something in between. After following the path uphill I then reached the Abbey of Sant'Eustachio a Benedictine monastery founded during the 11th century but suppressed in the 16th century. It still functioned as a place of prayer and culture until WWI when it was heavily damaged and nowadays stands mostly in ruins. The complex was never rebuilt but its ruins went through a thorough conservative restoration work which consolidated it. Nowadays it stands as an impressive monument, surrounded by vineyards owned by the Giusti Family which own the abbey ruins and helped restore and allow people to visit it. Once there it was just me and a small family as well as two workers setting up a stage and a beer pavilion mot probably for an event. I visited the grounds and admired both the architecture and the nice panorama around. Nearby I then visited the Montello Memorial, one of the main charnel houses collecting the remains of Italian fallen soldiers during World War I. Completed in 1935 on a high point overlooking the plains it contains the spoils of nearly 10 thousand soldiers who died on the Piave front. A typical brutalist structure made up of a tall cubic form it had several floors with long hallways containing the tombs. However, it was a bit run-down with some sections fenced off. A small museum up the stair ramp presented some exhibits from WW1. After visiting it I headed back to the car and crossing over the Piave River reached the small town of Collalto, set among the hills. At its highest point, it features a castle consisting of outer walls and inside a small park with a church and the main castle keep. Unfortunately, the keep was closed due to restoration work, so I was only able to walk around the church and park between the keep and the outer walls. Built around the 12th century it grew until the Collalto family, which owned it, expanded their territories in the surroundings and moved their main residency elsewhere. It served as a defensive structure expanding its size. However, like most of the surroundings, suffered great devastation during WWI. After the visit, I got back in the car and drove on to reach the town of Pieve di Soligo. Also badly damaged during the Great War it still holds some surviving parts and buildings. The Duomo which was built in 1924 was actually built anew as the previous main church was demolished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries because it was dilapidated. Rather than a main city, the town consisted of a series of old villages, which were unified together to form a larger urban area found nowadays. Evidence of these streets and buildings can be found here and there especially along the Soligo river flowing right through town. After a nice walk around town, I got back in the car and drove to the nearby hills to reach the Pieve di San Pietro di Feletto located on a hilltop in a panoramic spot. It was closed but a note on the door said to call a number to have it opened. After a bit an old man arrived and opened the church for me, two French tourists who also had arrived on the spot entered as well and the old man started speaking about the church while I translated for the other two tourists. Erected around the 11th century, but mostly probably already serving as a meeting place of the faithful since the 7th and 8th centuries it is one of the oldest in the area. Featuring a large portico that opens up to a beautiful panorama of the surrounding hills and mountains it also features some exterior frescoes. The most important and interesting is the so-called Christ of Sunday, a very rare iconography and better preserved here than elsewhere. It depicts the bleeding Christ, due to the wounds inflicted on him by numerous work tools, arranged around him and connected through streaks of blood; this iconography is intended to communicate the message of the third commandment, according to which working on the day dedicated to God entails for Christ a second martyrdom; placed in the portico, the image serves as a warning to every visitor. The interior was even more fascinating, divided into three naves, the central one presents frescoes on both of its upper parts performed and layered between the 13th and 15th centuries. They were discovered in the 20th century and only refurbished between the 90s and 2000s. They used to cover the whole walls but were damaged over time and only three-quarters survive. The left wall holds the oldest, of Byzantine inspiration and dating to the 13th century, as well as over the semicircular apse depicting Christ Pantocrator. On the right wall are the 15th-century ones, as a sort of poor man's bible depicting the articles of faith. Another incredible feature inside was the chapel of St Sebastian, gothic in style and frescoed in the second half of the 15th century it is fully painted and details the life of the saint. After the nice tour, I thanked the old man, took my leave of the other two tourists, and drove onwards. Along the way, I took a brief stop in the town of Codogné to admire the picturesque 18th-century Villa Toderini from the outside. Then for my last stop of the day, I reached the city of Motta di Livenza. Just outside the city center I first visited the Sanctuary and Basilica of the Madonna dei Miracoli. It was erected following Our Lady's apparition to a humble peasant in 1510 and presents a typical Renaissance Venetian lagoon style. It consists of a three-nave Basilica with a rounded gable facade and a portico all around the complex. The interior is simple yet features some important pieces of art including Sansovino's stunning altarpiece, a Nativity by Bernardino d'Asola, and the Assumption by Palma il Giovane on the altar of the Chapel of the Madonna, Behind the chapel a small passageway led to the crypt where the apparition occurred. Next up was the main cloister, one of four actually, with the typical arched passageway and a nice view of the bell tower. Heading on to visit Motta di Livenza's old town I then walked through the streets, visiting the Duomo, originally built in the 11th century but rebuilt in its current style during the 16th century. The interior was nice and featured two impressive Renaissance paintings, by Pomponio Amalteo and Francesco Bassano. Just outside the Duomo some old houses one of which had a nice frescoed facade. Walking around I also passed by the Toresin, once the city gate facing Treviso, now flanked by red stone lions sculpted recently but imitating older ones. After the visit it was time to go, I walked along the bank of the Livenza river, flowing through town and then got back in the car to drive home to Jesolo.
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| The Fagarè della Battaglia War Memorial |
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| The church of San Giovanni Battista in Tempio |
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| Frescoes of the church |
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The church of San Giorgio in San Polo di Piave
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| Interior of the church |
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| The Papadopoli-Giol castle |
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| Borgo Malanotte |
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| Another view of the village |
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| The entrance to the Abbey of Sant'Eustachio in Nervesa della Battaglia |
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| The ruined abbey |
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| View from the abbey |
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| The Montello Memorial |
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| The town and castle of Collalto |
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| View of Pieve di Soligo |
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| Interior of the Pieve di San Pietro di Feletto |
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| the frescoes of the church |
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| Villa Toderini in Codogné |
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| The Sanctuary and Basilica of the Madonna dei Miracoli in Motta di Livenza |
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| Interior of the basilica |
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| The cloister |
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| Motta's main square and Duomo |
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| Interior of the Duomo |
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| A street in the old town |
