Palazzo dei Rettori

Palazzo dei Rettori occupies the north side of Piazza Duomo in Belluno. For nearly four centuries it served as the residence and seat of Venetian rectors, and its façade preserves traces of the successive building campaigns that shaped the city’s government centre.

Why it matters

Construction began in 1409, after Belluno came under Venetian rule. The palace housed the rector, the patrician sent from Venice with civil and judicial authority, until the end of the Republic. Its enlargement reflects the changing demands of civic administration: an arcaded loggia was added in 1491, and Giovanni Candi designed a further expansion in 1496, completed in 1536 under rector Girolamo Rimondi.

What to notice

The three-arched, two-storey loggia added by Maffeo Tiepolo in 1491 runs along the west side. The façade carries coats of arms and busts of Venetian rectors from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries; many of the sculpted portraits and armorial elements were added in the seventeenth century. At the corner stands a sixteenth-century clock tower designed by Valerio da San Vittore of Fiesole. Inside, the main hall on the piano nobile and an adjoining room retain ceilings in the “soffitto alla sansovina” style.

Context and history

A fire damaged the palace in 1802, and repairs to the interior followed in 1804. The 1873 earthquake damaged parts of the façade, which was rebuilt soon afterward. The composite building preserves its Quattrocento core, Cinquecento additions and later repairs. It now houses the Prefecture, continuing its long institutional role.