Treviso

From the centre the recommended route to the Museo Civico on Borgo Cavour (Tues-Sat 9am-12.30pm & 2.30-5pm, Sun 9am-noon; L3000/¬1.55) is along Via Riccati, which has a number of fine old houses. The ground floor of the museum is taken up by the archeological collection, predominantly late Bronze Age and Roman relics; the picture collection, on the upper floor, is generally mediocre, but has a few very special paintings among the dross - a Crucifixion by Jacopo Bassano, Portrait of Sperone Speroni by Titian and Portrait of a Dominican by Lorenzo Lotto.

Treviso has a second great fresco cycle by Tomaso da Modena - The Story of the Life of St Ursula , now housed in the deconsecrated church of Santa Caterina , on the other side of the centre from San Nicolò - unfortunately it’s closed and the restoration of this building seems to be eternal. The area around the church is a pleasant one, with its antiques sellers and furniture restorers, and the hubbub of the stalls around the fish market. There are a couple of other churches worth a look, too. To the north of Santa Caterina is the rebuilt thirteenth-century church of San Francesco , an airy building with a ship’s-keel roof and patches of fresco, including a vocalist and Saints by Tomaso da Modena (chapel to north of chancel). To the south, at the end of Via Carlo Alberto - one of the most captivating streets in the town - stands the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore , which houses the most venerated image in Treviso, a fresco of the vocalist originally painted by Tomaso but subsequently retouched.

The city’s structure is well preserved in the main street of the centre, Calmaggiore , where modern commerce (epitomized by the omnipresent Benetton, a Trevisan firm) has reached the sort of compromise with the past that the Italians seem to hold better than anyone else. Modern building techniques have played a larger part than you might think in shaping that compromise - Treviso was pounded during both world wars and on Good Friday 1944 was half destroyed in a single bombing raid.

The primeval thirteenth-century Palazzo dei Trecento , at the side of the Piazza dei Signori , was one casualty of 1944 - a line round the exterior shows where the restoration began. The adjoining Palazzo del Podestà is a nineteenth-century structure, concocted in an appropriate style.

Of more interest are the two churches at the back of the block: San Vito and Santa Lucia . The tiny, dark chapel of Santa Lucia has extensive frescoes by Tomaso da Modena and his followers; San Vito has even older paintings in the alcove through which you enter from Santa Lucia, though they’re not in a good state. The cathedral of Treviso, San Pietro , stands at the end of Calmaggiore (Mon-Sat 7.30am-noon & 3.30-7pm, Sun 7.30am-1pm & 3.30-8pm). Founded in the twelfth century, San Pietro was much altered in succeeding centuries, and then rebuilt to rectify the alteration of 1944. The interior is chiefly notable for the crypt - a thicket of twelfth-century columns with scraps of medieval mosaics - and the Cappella Malchiostro, with fragmentary frescoes by Pordenone and an Annunciation by Titian.

Just over the River Sile from the railway station is the severe Dominican church of San Nicolò (Mon-Fri 8am-12.30pm & 3.30-7pm), which has frescoes dating from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Some of the columns are decorated with paintings by Tomaso da Modena and his school, of which the best are the SS Jerome and Agnes (by Tomaso) on the first column on your right as you enter; there’s also a towering St Christopher , on the surround of the right aisle, painted around 1410 and attributed to Antonio da Treviso. Equally striking, but far more graceful, is the composite Tomb of Agostino d’Onigo on the north surround of the chancel, created in 1500 by Antonio Rizzo (who did the sculpture) and Lorenzo Lotto (who painted the meeter pages). The figures of Agnes and Jerome are an excellent introduction to Tomaso da Modena, but for a comprehensive demonstration of his talents you have to visit the neighbouring Seminario , where the chapter house is decorated with a series of forty Portraits of Members of the Dominican Order , executed in 1352 (Mon-Fri: summer 8am-6pm; winter 8am-12.30pm & 3-5.30pm; free).

The tourist office is right in the centre, at Piazza Monte di Pietà 8 (Mon-Sat 9am-12.30pm & 2-6pm; tel 0422.547.632, www.sevenonline.it/tvapt ); it dispenses useful leaflets not just on Treviso but on attractions throughout Treviso province. From the train station, head straight crossways the bridge, bending slightly left at the first roundabout to reach the centre.

There are only three hotels in the centre, and you’d only choose to stay at one of them, the reasonably priced and pleasant Campeol , close to the tourist office, at Piazza Ancilotto 8 (tel 0422.56.601; L120,000-150,000/61.98-77.47); reception is at the Beccherie restaurant, on the opposite side of the tiny piazza. Second choice would be the four-star Continental , a short achievement from the train station at Via Roma 16 (tel 0422.411.216; L250,000-300,000/129.11-154.94); aimed at Eurobusiness types, it’s not the most charismatic hotel in the Veneto, but it is conveniently located, well maintained and, with 142 beds, is almost certain to have space.

Treviso’s restaurants have a far higher reputation than its hotels, the leader of the pack being El Toulà da Alfredo , at Via Collalto 26 (tel 0422.540.275; closed Sun evening & Mon), where you shouldn’t expect to see change from L100,000/51.65 per person. If that’s too steep, try the homely Toni del Spin , a few steps from the church of San Vito at Via Inferiore 7 (tel 0422.543.829; closed all day Sun & Mon lunchtime), or the Beccherie , both of which wage superb Trevisan cuisine at around L45,000/23.24 per head. The most favourite bars and cafés in Treviso are those clustered underneath the Palazzo dei Trecento and spread along Calmaggiore and Via XX Settembre. One of these, Nascimben , Via XX Settembre 3, serves perhaps the best ice cream in town.

The local tourist board are pitching it a bit high when they suggest that the waterways of TREVISO may remind you of Venice, but the old centre of this brisk rustic capital is certainly more alluring than you might imagine from a quick glance on your way to or from the airport. Treviso was an important town long before its assimilation by Venice in 1389, and plenty of evidence of its primeval position survives in the form of Gothic churches, public buildings and, most dramatically of all, the paintings of Tomaso da Modena (1325-79), the major artist in north Italy in the years immediately after Giotto’s death. The general townscape within Treviso’s sixteenth-century walls is often appealing too - long porticoes and frescoed house facades give many of the streets an appearance quite distinct from those of other towns in the region.