Beauties of Mestre

Beauties of the city

FERRETTO SQUARE

The centre of Mestre is constituted by the long Ferretto Square.
Inside the wall of the ancient medieval Castle there wasn't a real square. The actual square (The Great or The Greater Square) rose out of the wall. In the nineteenth century the Greater Square was divided into four parts (Quarti) because of the junction of the Royal Postal Road and of a pavement that crosses the square transversally. Along the Royal Postal Road (between the actual Barche Square and the Terraglio zone) took place all the main happenings of the civic history. There were the Quarters of the Church and of the Standard (southward), of the "Erbaria" and of the "Pavion" (northward) (you may look at the following paragraphs). After undergoing a restoration, the Square was named after king Humbert I, in 1900; it became at first the terminus of several tramlines, then it saw the fast development of miscellaneous economic activities, undergoing also the destruction of the Bridge of the Bell and of the adjoining Ponci and Erizzo-Bianchini Parks. In 1913 Domenico Toniolo built the homonymous Theatre, the arcade and the surrounding buildings.

At the beginning of Ferretto Square there is Saint Laurence. The first information about the existence of a church in this place dates back to 1192 and makes us guess that it had a porch. The building belonged to the Comunità Mestrina, very ancient institution governed by few noble families (the clergy was only responsible for the religious practice). The actual church, erected in the XVIII century on the plan of the architect Bernardo Maccaruzzi, has neoclassic façade and has kept its Romanesque Bell Tower from the previous building; inside it has nineteenth-century statues and the altars coming from the deconsacrated church of Saint Mary of the Graces.

On the right, toward the characteristic Poerio Street, there is the fourteenth-century Scoletta dei Battuti, with trilobate single lancet windows at the first ground.

The actual one dates back to 1905. In the origin it was situated between the actual Palace Street and Belfredo Tower Street; only from the Nineteenth Century it's in the place where it's nowadays. In the days of market the municipal flag was hoisted: till it remained high it was forbidden, to favour the small consumers, selling to wholesalers.

At the centre of the Square, it has three great arches that contains the porch and a terrace on the top.
The porch, named Pavion (from the French pavillon, pavilion), was public property and gave hospitality to the corn dealers. In its place was built the Da Re Palace, but the porch continued to give hospitality to the corn market.

Filled up the Bridge of the Bell under Poerio Street, remained, in the opposite side of the Square, the Bridge of Herbs, widened in the second half of Nineteenth Century.

At the end of the Square one can find the Tower of the Clock that, built in 1108 by the Collalto family, is the only surviving of the 15 or 17 that formed the second and more recent Medieval Castle of Mestre, at least after the destruction, in 1876, of Belfredo Tower. It was part of the "Porta della Loza", that joined the Castle and Saint Lorenzo, with its loggia (used for trials and for per auctions). The Clock was put on it in 1827. Used by the Austrians in 1848 to spy Fort Marghera, the Tower was entirely restored in 1878, when the Clock was rebuilt and were built the two small windows: a plaque reminds the happening. Further ruins of the Castle may be visited in the small garden of Torre Belfredo St., in Spalti St. and in Ponci Park: for these and for other archaeologic remains one can follow the itinerary of explicative panels located in the historical center of Mestre.

THE PALACE OF THE PODESTÀ

It was ended in 1466, in the very centre of the "burgus de Mestre", to give hospitality to the Podestà and to the Captain of Mestre. In september of 1513 it gave hospitality to the chiefs of the Imperial army and when, on 2 october, Spanish and Imperial went away after burning the city, the building suffered so many damages that in 1515 it was still uninhabitable. After the fall of the Republic (1797) it became Office of the Municipal Commission and of the Magistrate's Court, near the jail, so an high wall must be built to hide the large windows of the prison. In 1869 the Palace was nearly completely destroyed to be rebuilt for the Offices of the Town Hall (Mestre was an Autonomous Commune): there was an outlay of 60,000 liras of that age. In 1974 started the new restoration, carried out for some time. Nowadays the palace gives hospitality to municipal offices.

THE PALACE OF THE CIVIC COUNCIL AND OF THE "PROVVEDARIA"

In 1452, because of the will of a group of families of Mestre and with the implied consent of the venetian government was born in Mestre the Civic Council, that, with the Podestà and the Captain provided for the necessities of the Community. In 1459 was inaugurated the Palace of the Commune, whose hall gave hospitality to the most important assemblies. Wasted in 1513, it was rebuilt in 1525. At the beginning of Nineteenth Century, according to Barcella, the Palace was the seat of the Municipal School. In 1853 the council chamber was used as a barn. The Provvedarìa, rebuilt in 1926 after a fire, gave hospitality to the Civic Library about till 1974. Nowadays it's a little palace with a Romanesque porch and an order of Renaissance windows.

THE FORTS

Deserve a visit also the Forts that formed the entrenched camp of Mestre (Gazzera, Carpenedo, Tron, Tessera, Malcontenta, Pepe, Mezzacaprio, Poerio, Sirtori e Cosenz). In particular, let's see the portal of entrance of Fort Carpenedo, that, in Istrian stone, uses a composite style, mainly neoclassic: the semi columns have horizontal fillets, typical of late Renaissance, the structure is crowned by un gable with the escutcheon and the crown of the Savoia family.

PARKS AND GARDENS

Another recent attraction is represented by the public parks and gardens. The main parks are the Park of San Giuliano, opened in 2004, 770.000 square metres on the bank of the lagoon, and the Parck of Bissuola "Alfredo Albanese", 330.000 square metres. To these we should add the project for the Wood of Mestre, small yet, but that in the future is going to extend for 1,200 hectares, becoming the greatest Italian urban wood and one of the greatest in Europe.