Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta

Valdobbiadene's principal church, Santa Maria Assunta, is a Neoclassical building whose history reaches back to a pieve documented in 1259. Its present form followed an extended rebuilding that began in 1798.

Why it matters

The church is the religious and civic centre of Valdobbiadene. Its layered history includes a medieval parish, successive reconstructions and damage sustained during the First World War, making the building a record of the town's changing fortunes.

What to notice

The Doric pronaos carries three statues from the earlier church: San Prosdocimo, San Venanzio Fortunato and Pope Benedict XI. Inside, the single nave has four side altars and a frescoed ceiling. The organ belongs to the tradition of Gaetano Callido, who supplied an instrument in 1782. The detached bell tower took its present form in 1767 and carries a sundial recalculated in 1998.

Context and history

A 1259 testament records the pieve of Santa Maria and its archpriest. The medieval church was rebuilt on its current site in 1355, and a later renovation was consecrated in 1529. Work on the present church began in 1798 and continued for eighteen years. The pronaos was completed in 1840. Fighting in 1917 tore open the roof and damaged the walls; restoration was completed by December 1922. The title Duomo was adopted during restoration work in the 1980s.