13.06.19

Lying on a hill on the edge of the easternmost plain of the Veneto region, Conegliano is the protagonist of a landscape marked by rows of vines. Together with Valdobbiadene, this city gives its name to an important ​​production area of wines among which Prosecco is certainly the most famous. A land that is very dear to the Ceschin family, which has produced top quality white, red and sparkling wines since 1965, often obtaining important awards, just as with their Manzoni 2018 at the "XVIII International Città del Vino Wine Competition" in Frascati. It won the Gold Medal among 1,250 competing wines and 500 Italian and foreign producers.

However, Conegliano, besides being a major centre of Italian and international wine production, is also an elegant city steeped in history and culture and the homeland of great artists. An "alternative" way to start discovering Conegliano is certainly from the Oenological School of Conegliano, the ISISS G. B. Cerletti, a reference point for oenology not only locally but also at the national and international level. The school is accessed from Viale delle Rimembranze, an avenue lined with shady trees, each dedicated to a student fallen during the war. Entering the atrium, the gaze is captured by the large staircase that leads first to the mezzanine - where the institute's aula magna is located, a hall with a fresco on the ceiling that resembles a pergola with climbing vines - and then to the upper floor hosting the classrooms of the institute and the Manzoni Museum, an exhibition dedicated to agronomist Luigi Manzoni, a professor who worked in the school for fifty years conducting his studies on vines and cross-breeding and creating innovative vines that still bear his name.

A visit to the Conegliano Castle, dating back to the 12th century, is a must. Today identified with the “Torre della Campana”, which once housed the bell that summoned the population and started the city council sessions. The Tower is home to a Civic Museum that can be visited up to the top terrace. It hosts a rich art gallery with important paintings and frescoes and a section dedicated to prehistoric and Roman artefacts found in the city and in the surrounding territory. A peculiar feature is the hall with a fireplace shaped like the Venetian "doge hat". On the first floor, the gallery exhibits, among other works, the large canvas with the "Delivery of the keys to Saint Peter (1614-1616) by Palma il Giovane, the " San Girolamo Penitente" attributed to Spagnoletto and the "Madonna and Saints" by Pordenone (XVI century).

Finally, how can we forget that this city of art gave birth to Giovanni Battista Cima, better known as Cima da Conegliano? The painter born in the fifteenth century was a pupil of Bellini and an exponent of the Renaissance in Italy. He worked in Venice and in the Veneto region: in Conegliano and the surrounding area he bequeathed some of his works. In the Cathedral of Conegliano we can admire the altarpiece with the Madonna and Child, in the church of San Giovanni Battista of nearby San Fior there is the polyptych with the same name, and a polyptych of Cima can be admired in the Diocesan Museum of Vittorio Veneto.