From Conegliano to Valdobbiadene, on the streets of Prosecco

Just a few minutes from the left bank of the Piave River, Conegliano is an excellent starting point for exploring the streets of Prosecco, not only thanks to its location near the motorway that connects Venice to the Belluno Dolomites, but also for its prestige in theoenology sector. In fact, some research institutes are located here, including the Cerletti school, a reference point for the teaching of viticulture and agriculture since 1876: who knows how many former students of this institution have made the history and fortune of Prosecco in Italy and the world.

The brick tower of what was once an austere fortress dominates from the top of Janus Hill, a small green relief, the historic centre of Conegliano, to be explored on foot during a pleasant cultural walk.

You can start a tour of Conegliano by walking along the crenellated walls that lead to this mediaeval tower, home to the city's municipal museum, rich in paintings and tombstones, objects of archaeology, armour and fine furniture, arranged through a fascinating exhibition that culminates with a panoramic terrace, open to the sea and the mountains.

From the castle, you descend to a flatter area, to get to know a particularly famous Conegliano native: the painter Giovanni Battista Cima (alias Cima da Conegliano), after whom the town's central square is rightly named. A beautiful house museum, Casa Cima, where the artist was born around 1459, explores the life, memories and works of this Renaissance master, also showing some reproductions of paintings now held in the world's most important collections.

It is just a few minutes' walk from Casa Cima to reach the Cathedral of Conegliano, the centre of religious life in the city. The traveller should not be fooled by the less than ecclesiastical appearance of the arcaded building: the cathedral is in fact hidden behind a mediaeval building, beautifully frescoed around its elegant arcades, which houses the Hall of the Battuti, a powerful mediaeval congregation, responsible among other things for the construction of the cathedral.

Upon entering the nave of the church, the altarpiece placed on the high altar is instantly striking in its harmony and colours: it is a Madonna with Child and Angels, the only authentic work by Giovanni Battista Cima to be found in Conegliano. The altarpiece is complemented by several other 15th- and 16th-century masterpieces in the chapels and aisles of the church.

You could dedicate much more time to visiting Conegliano, to its atmospheric Jewish cemetery, for example, or to the many aristocratic palaces scattered around the Contrada Grande district, before setting off again on a new leg of this tour of the Prosecco Superiore DOCG lands.

Moving from Conegliano towards the Dolomites, you could make a small diversion in the name of Venetian art, in the direction of San Fior, to admire the polyptych of Cima da Conegliano preserved in the town's parish church. Following the course of the Monticano river northwards, you arrive a few kilometres later in the area of Vittorio Veneto, at the eastern end of the Prosecco hills.

The city is one of the places in Veneto and Friuli that were sadly involved in the events of the First world war. Both the Italian army on one side and the Austro-Hungarian army on the other, supported by their respective international allies, fought the last battle at Vittorio Veneto in the autumn of 1918, which saw the Italians decisively repel the imperial expansion attempt.

Curiously, this military triumph is not the only episode that links the history of Vittorio Veneto to a general feeling of national patriotism. In fact, the city was given its lofty name when in 1866, on the occasion of the annexation of Veneto to the rest of the peninsula, it wanted to pay tribute to King Vittorio Emanuele II, merging the two medieval centres of Serravalle and Ceneda under one name: Vittorio Veneto.

Adjoining, but for centuries independent of each other, today's districts of Serravalle and Ceneda reveal the city's most important monuments. Ceneda had to have a museum dedicated to the battle of Vittorio Veneto, while visiting Serravalle in search of that gentle, dreamy atmosphere typical of the towns of Marca Trevigiana.

In Serravalle, a visit to Cathedral of Santa Maria Nova should not be missed, even if only to admire the Altarpiece of Serravalle painted by Tiziano Vecellio. Alternatively, you could perhaps listen to the sound of footsteps echoing on the ancient Istrian stone cobblestones as you sit in some bar at the foot of the elegant houses of Piazza Flaminio, you prepare for a tasting of Prosecco and other local delights.

Between Vittorio Veneto and Cison di Valmarino, which has been awarded the Orange Flag by the Italian Touring Club for its excellent tourist accommodation, a landscape of rare charm opens up. The vines climb steep hills here, maintaining their evocative shapes and colours, but further embellishing the route are the reflections and glimpses offered by two small bodies of water, the lakes of Revine, located at the foot of the Treviso Pre-Alps.

A short stretch of coastline of these lakes is also occupied by the Livelet Educational Archaeological Park, an open-air museum where a prehistoric pile dwelling village has been faithfully reconstructed to tell what is known about daily life during the Neolithic period in this part of Italy.

A short distance further on, you arrive in the historical centre of Cison di Valmarino, immersed in a naturalistic context crossed by hiking trails and perfumed by orchards and vineyards. Alongside the ever-present Prosecco Superiore DOCG, the town offers the opportunity to taste buzholà, a typical variety of buttery biscuits, as well as radicchio and polenta, some of the best-known specialities of Treviso. This is even more true if you are in Cison di Valmarino during the Prosecco Superiore Spring Exhibition or in August during the Artigianato Vivo exhibition, an ideal situation to taste the best of local food and wine.

Transformed into a hotel and conference centre, which has, nevertheless, retained its opening hours to the outside public by reservation, the thousand-year-old fortress of Castelbrando controls the Cison di Valmarino settlement from above and is connected to the lower town by a funicular railway. The castle has been inhabited over the centuries by various aristocratic families and government institutions, which have made subsequent changes to give contemporary travellers a visit route dedicated to the art collections and the turbulent events that have involved the monument.

A handful of houses, lying as if by magic among the hills and vineyards, then welcomes the traveller to Rolle, a southern hamlet of the municipality, so distinctive and popular with slow tourism. The twentieth-century poet Andrea Zanzotto, born a few miles from this town, spoke of Rolle as a "postcard sent by the gods", and it's hard to argue with that when you walk the bucolic paths that gently meander through the Prosecco grapes.

Immersed in a lush landscape furrowed by dozens of paths and opportunities for discovery, it is difficult to choose which itinerary to follow, so great is the desire to head for every vantage point, every cellar and vineyard, every village and castle along the Prosecco roads.

An excellent option to continue the journey is certainly represented by the town of Refròntolo, especially as on the route from Rolle to this town you pass a very special location.

Set in a shaded valley, in some ways darker and more mysterious than the open scenic roads typical of the area, the still intact structure of an old water mill is unveiled before our eyes. The Molinetto della Croda, built in the 17th century, has been put back into operation after years of neglect. Thanks to the flow of the waters of the Lierza stream, the movement of the paddles gives an excellent stone-ground flour, a basic element for various types of bread, to be tasted, of course, with a glass of local Prosecco.

Before continuing the journey, heading west, the parish church of S. Pietro di Feletto, a few minutes' drive from Refròntolo, also deserves a detour. A symphony of mediaeval and Renaissance frescoes accompanies the interior of the church, built in Romanesque style: a precious jewel of ancient art surrounded by the lush landscape of Treviso.

The journey continues again in the direction of the Treviso Pre-Alps. Right at the foot of the mountains is the small settlement of Follina, also, like Cison di Valmarino, granted an Orange Flag of the Italian Touring Club for that precious combination of history, nature and food and wine that here are condensed into a unique and varied tourist offer.

There is indeed a wealth of history in Follina, particularly within the walls of the centuries-old Cistercian Abbey of Santa Maria. The religious complex revolves around its splendid mediaeval cloister, embellished with sculpted capitals and an octagonal fountain that captures the gaze of the centre of the court. It also seems that it was the monks of the abbey who brought to Follina a strong tradition linked to the manufacture of wool, which still distinguishes this village from the surrounding towns.

The surroundings of Follina are easily explored on foot or on horseback, by bicycle, motorbike or, of course, by car. Here, too, there is no shortage of food and wine products with authentic flavours: competing with Prosecco Superiore Docg, which is a must in Follina, is a locally brewed craft beer.

The final destination, Valdobbiadene, one of the world's most renowned locations for wine production, is now close at hand. Over the centuries, painstaking and demanding work on the land has transformed what were once wild hills at the foot of the Treviso Pre-Alps into an immense mosaic of plots cultivated with vines.

Ingrained in the soul of the people of Valdobbiadene is a strong culture of hospitality, as well as of eating, and above all drinking, well. The wine obtained from these vineyards only reinforces this impression, and this is even more true in the Cartizze DOCG area. It is a subsection of the Prosecco denomination, spread over a hundred hectares near the hamlets of S. Pietro di Barbozza and S. Stefano, in the municipality of Valdobbiadene.

A lower yield per hectare, combined with a sunny and airy location and a clay soil, make Cartizze a highly prized Prosecco (strictly sparkling). Many sommeliers consider it superior to any other Veneto wine, and attending Valdobbiadene, during wine events such as the famous Calici di Stelle, could be an opportunity to taste a glass of Cartizze DOCG.

However, it is not just wine we are talking about in Valdobbiadene, because the works of art hidden between the pillars and chapels of the town cathedral, painted by masters of the calibre of Paris Bordon and Palma il Giovane, certainly deserve a final cultural stop.