Bassano

Bassano stands on the Brenta where the river leaves the mountains for the Venetian plain. Its bridge and river port connected the town to Venice, while its castle guarded the approaches from the north. The sixteenth-century painter Jacopo Bassano took his name from the town where he was born and worked.

The medieval castle is recorded as early as 1150, and Bassano later became a free commune. In 1368 Bassano came under the Visconti of Milan as a separate territory. It joined the Venetian mainland state in 1404, retaining an autonomous district subject directly to Venice rather than to a neighbouring city. Trade linked Bassano and the villages of the Brenta valley with the lagoon. In 1760 Doge Francesco Loredan granted Bassano the title of city.