ABOUT US

SOME HISTORY

Ceneda exist since the VI century. During its existence Ceneda became one of the most powerful city in the area. It had (and still has) two castles, two cathedral, a bishop and a seminarium. During centuries has been an important religious and political center across Northen Italy. Home of Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart copywriter, and Albino Luciani, Pope John Paul I.

The birth of the Duchy of Ceneda is attested by scholars around 570 AD. The oldest evidence of the existence of a city called Ceneta dates back to the 6th century, in the writings of Venanzio Fortunato, a poet of Treviso and perhaps Cenedese origins. In his De vita S. Martini Turonensis we find these lines:

Per Cenetam gradiens et amicos duplavenenses,

Qua natal solum est mihi sanguine, sede parentum,

Prolis origo patrum, frater, soror, ordo nepotum,

Quos colo corda, fide, breviter, peto, redde salutems.

(If you pass through Ceneda and where my Duplavensi friends live, in which place is my birthplace by blood, where my parents live, where is the origin of the descendants of the fathers, where is the brother, the sister, the host of grandchildren, whom I honor with my heart and faith: in a nutshell, I ask you, wish them health).

Other authors, from the 6th and 7th centuries, also speak of Ceneda in their writings. Paolo Diacono, at the end of the second book of the Historia Langabardorum, states that after the death of their King Clefi there were already 35 Duchies in Italy: he also gives us the name of five. In Liutprand's Placitus we find the first evidence of the existence of the Duchy, around 750. A certain date is instead that of 665, the year in which King Grimoaldo destroyed Oderzo and "divided the lands of those who lived there between Friulans, Trevigians and Cenedesi.”. In 712 or 713, according to the studies of the historian Vincenzo Botteon, we have the birth of the diocese of Ceneda at the behest of Liutprando. In the mid-7th century, the remains of Bishop San Tiziano had been transferred to Ceneda, increasing the religious importance of the city, which was already an important territorial garrison.

CURRENT DAYS

After 14 December 1769, last day of Bishop ruling, Ceneda slowly lost is political power, in favour of other nearby cities. In fact its first opponent was Serravalle, which during the Venetian domination became the center of economy of the area, with its worldwide known swords. On 27 September 1866 Ceneda united with Serravalle creating the city of Vittorio, in onour of King Vittorio Emanuele II, wich united Italy in 1861. The city of Vittorio became well known at the end of the Great War, when the last battle fought there. Vittorio became the “City of Victory”. In the 19th Century became a well developed industrial and militar centre, being home of Colussi (Food), Carnielli (Metalworking) and Zoppas (Manifacture. Also made equipment for NASA and ESA) and the 5th Army.

Today only Zoppas remains, with the local polulation dropping and the economy focusing on tourism, thanks to the UNESCO Prosecco Hills and the opportunity nature offers for sport and relax