Church of San Martino Urbano: what to see and tips

The church of San Martino Urbano, in Treviso's old town, is a modern reinforced-concrete church built in place of a church of very ancient origins, destroyed in the 1944 bombing. Of the medieval building, the bell tower still stands.

The square-plan bell tower dates from the late 11th or early 12th century, in a style halfway between Lombard Romanesque and Byzantine. The new church, consecrated in 1970, is full of symbols: two pillars hold up the roof without resting on the walls, and there are fourteen staggered walls, like the Stations of the Cross.

Inside, it feels like standing under a great tree, a nod to the parable of the mustard seed. From the old church came a Byzantine capital, a fresco of St. Martin and the statues of Saints Zeno and Anthony of Padua.

Tradition says it was the city's first chapel, founded by Bishop Felix in the 6th century; more recent studies date it a century or two later.