Discover Fonzaso

Fonzaso is a Venetian municipality in the province of Belluno. Located 329 meters above sea level, it has 3,000 inhabitants. Its toponym is not unique, there are at least five accredited hypotheses that testify to the ancient and rich history of Fonzaso. Unfortunately, fires and frequent floods of the Cismon River have erased much of its glorious past. The first written source of the settlement appears in a deed of donation dated 983. For centuries Fonzaso was in the territory second in importance only to Feltre; the generosity of Cismon in fact allowed it excellent trade, excellent wood processing and many workshops and factories. Many noble families made Fonzaso their summer residence, enriching it with palaces and villas. Unfortunately, of these architectural masterpieces dating from between 500 and 700 only ruins remain, very few buildings are in good condition. To visit the Parish Church of the Nativity of Mary, mentioned in acts of 1184, destroyed by a fire in 1581 and rebuilt in 1610 in a classical-Renaissance style, with an interesting interior for stuccoes, altarpieces and marble statues. Another important church is that of the Madonna of the mantle of 1626, whose image is the object of veneration by the inhabitants, remarkable interior with frescoes and apse.