SAN FRANCESCO

The Church of St. Francesco dates from the first half of the 13th century. It was enlarged in 1255 and repeatedly restored and adapted due to numerous incidents such as the fire in 1386; the war with the Cambrai in 1509; and the French invasion of 1797.
The napoleonic suppression of religious Orders, reduced the Church to a warehouse and military hospital and caused the loss of valuable works of art such as various paintings and sculptures adorning the walls and tombs of the most respected families of Treviso of the 15th and 16th centuries. Only the tombs of Francesca, daughter of Petrarca and Pietro, son of Dante Alighieri, both of whom died in Treviso, are left.
Internally, though stark and extremely sombre, the church has a certain suggestive quality. The building is now assymetrical with the addition of the right nave a century after the completion of the church.
Here, as in S. Nicolò, a giant St. Christopher is found to a widespread, popular belief, whoever looked upon the image of the Saint was safe from sudden death or other accidents from that day onwards.
In the Chapel of the Immaculate (to the left of the high altar) is found the fresco "Madonna in trono con Bambino e Santi", by Tomaso da Modena.

SANTA LUCIA E SAN VITO

The Church of Santa Lucia is quite small and seems almost a crypt, dating from 1355, built on prison ruins which were destroyed by fire.
The Church was enlarged in 1389 and dedicated to St. Lucia in memory of Treviso's return to Venice, after the departure of the Carraresi. The Church's orientation was also changed.
It would seem that the chapel to the right of the entry with the 14th century frescoes named "Storie della Passion" was in fact, the apse of the first church. On this same wall, a few years ago, the "Madonna del pavegio" (circa 1355) was placed, taken from another wall in the church. Attributed to Tomaso da Modena, it represents the Madonna with Child following, han extended, a butterfly (the "pavegio").
The other Church frescoes represent the stories of Saints and are from the end of the 14th century.
A small door leads you to the adjoining Church of San Vito: it has very early origins, but of the oldest part only a small apse remains, opening directly into the entry door and on which are depicted interesting frescoes from the first half of the 13th century. The rest of the building was completely renovated in the 16th century when, over the church, the rooms of Monte di Pietà were added.

SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE

The Madonna, who worked extraordinary healings and protected the city from invasions and tyrannical rulers, was worshipped here on the site where the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore now stands, until the 8th century.
The Church of the "Madonna Granda", as it came to be popularly called, was built as we see it today during the second half of the 15th century, in late gothic style, the apse being demolished and rebuilt in the 16th century.
The small temple inside, with its inlaid marble work dates from the 15th century and has the miraculous image of the "Madonna col Bambino", attribuited to Tomaso da Modena, who most probably used the already existing painting of the "Nicopeia", or the Victorious Virgin in the Venetian tradition, as a model.
In this temple one also finds the chains of Girolamo Emiliani: a Venetian governor who commanded the Castle of  Quero, captured by the Collegati of the War with the Cambrai. Upon his miraculous freeing by the Madonna on September 27, 1511, he left the chains of his imprisonment in the sanctuary of Santa Maria Maggiore, and dedicated himsef to religious life and to founding of the Order of the Padri Somaschi.
Behind the temple is the Cappella del Battistero of the 16th century: semicircular in plan and covered in frescoes by Ludovico Fiumicelli and Giovan Pietro Melloni of scenes from the New Testament.