MAGNIFICA COMUNITA’ DI CADORE
BIRTH HOME OF TITIAN VECELLIO
IN PIEVE DI CADORE
The Anonymus by Tizianello (or Gio. Mario Verdizzotti?) painter,
man of letters, author in 1622 of the Brief Summary of the Life of
the Famous Titian Vecellio of Cadore, Knight and Painter, while describing the center of
Pieve di Cadore declares that “…there are noble palaces all around, among whom one
notices in particular the house, located in a place called the Arsenal, where Titian was born
in 1477.”
This assertion by the author, a contemporary and disciple of Titian, eliminates every doubt
on the fact that the birth home of the great painter was still standing a few decades after
Titian’s death in Venice, on August 27, 1576 in his residence at the Biri Grande, in the
Parrish of San Canziano, during the years that the black death ravaged the capital of the
Venetian Republic.
In Pieve the family home where Titian was born avoided the raids and destruction caused
by the German troops in the period of the Cambrais wars. It was a solid Cadore structure
of the Fifteen century – liked all the buildings of the period it represented a typical house of
the higher middle class among whose members were persons of rank: notaries, timber
merchants and public officials.
The present house is the result of restructurings – commissioned by the Magnifica
Comunità of the Cadore, owner of the building since 1926—at the hands of the engineer
Giuseppe Palatini of Pieve di Cadore, and carried out in the years 1928-30, with the
demolition of the anterior part, the result of an enlargement done during the half of the
Sixteen hundreds by its proprietors which had hidden the original façade. As a result of
that intervention the ancient doors and windows of the original structure, of smaller
dimensions typical of the Fifteenth century, reappeared.
The actual structure is composed of two levels in stone, of irregular design, with covered
porches, an exterior wooden stair and a two sided roof covered with wood tiles.
On the ground floor an ample room with a particular wooden floor houses the reproductions
of the collection of Titian’s drawings whose originals are in the Uffici Gallery in Florence, as
well as other documents relating to the Painter.
After climbing the steep wooden stairs to the upper floor, there is access to the five
interconnected spaces where Titian probably spent his youth and also stayed, after moving
to Venice, each time he returned home to Pieve.
In these archaic structures the spirit of the Artist still hovers: it is felt in the kitchen with a
large open stove (foghèr) covered by hood—the only heated room in the house, and in the
adjacent utility room; it is also noticeable in the two bedrooms but, above all, in the warm
closeness of the stua, with wood-paneled walls and rough timbered ceiling. The emotions
are perceived by the senses while stepping on those rickety floor planks or while walking
those worn-out kitchen stones that had witnessed the birth of the Genius of Renaissance
painting are unforgettable.
Such was the family of the Vecellios: the thick uneven walls had witnessed the birth of five
children from father Gregorio and Lucia; two males: Francesco the first born—eclectic
personality, established painter but also timber salesman, with the experience of military
service for the Venetian troops; then came Titian, followed by three sisters: Orsa (or
Orsola), Caterina e Dorotea.
Not all their dates of birth are officially recorded: Francesco was probably born in 1476 and
Titian in the years between 1477 and 1490; little is known about that of the sisters.
There exists only the proof that the two very young sons of Gregorio soon left home
(maybe at the age of nine or ten) to go to Venice – it is believed to live with a still
unidentified uncle (?) – and learn there the art of painting.
It is well known that Titian established himself definitely in Venice but returned from time
to time in the Cadore to take care of his business. His brother Francesco, having ended his
military services, returned to his home place to live with his parents. At his death in Pieve,
around 1559-60 and without any heirs, the house became Titian’s property. On June 28,
1566 he made the following declaration to the Venetian Fiscal Authority (l’ufficio dei X Savi
sopra le Decime): “…in Cadore I have a house where my brother Francesco Vecellio lived,
from which property I draw no benefit, and next to said house I have a piece of land in a
place called Montaricho measuring a sator and from which I obtain a cart of hay each
year”.
The house therefore was not inhabited, but it was possibly used by Emanuel Amberger and
Marco Vecellio when, between 1566 and 1568, they had been engaged to decorate the
choir (chuba) of the church of Santa Maria di Pieve, paintings realized on patterns prepared
by Titian himself.
At Titian’s death the house was inherited by his son Pomponio who, a few years later, sold
it together with the land to Giovanni de Cesco di San Pietro di Cadore. After subsequent
passages of property, in the Eighteenth century it was purchased by a certain Giacomo
Vecellio who, being unmarried, designated as his heir Osvaldo Tabacchi. He enlarged the
original building to make room for his large family.
In 1881 a merchant of Treviso, Davide Springolo, purchased the structure which later, with
a Decree of December 1, 1926, the Council of the Magnifica Comunità di Cadore acquired
and added to its patrimony, that already included the historic palace in Piazza Tiziano of
Pieve as well as some timber forests.
In the decade 1922-33 subsequent administrators of the Magnifica Comunità, with financial
contributions from the public, carried out the restorations under the supervision of the
architect Giuseppe Palatini and with the collaboration of the Superintendence of
Monuments (with Royal Decree 17 December 1992, No. 1726, Titian’s house in the
meanwhile had been declared a national monument).
Restoration concluded, the building was inaugurated on August 7, 1932, under the
presidency of Attorney Celso Fabbro and with the official intervention of the Royal Academy
of Italy, represented by Ugo Ojetti who gave the commemorative speech, later divulged by
the newspapers.
Since that time the humble house of a young mountain man who left the Cadore for Venice
to become a protagonist painter of the Fifteenth century has been open to the public: a
“place of the heart” for which the Magnifica Comunità del Cadore is responsible to the
whole of humanity.
© Sept 2009 MCC-A.G.
©2009 Adeodato Piazza Nicolai for the English translation
MAGNIFICA COMUNITA’ DI CADORE Piazza Tiziano, 2 I-32044 Pieve di Cadore (BL)
tel. 0435 32262 - fax 0435 32858
email: [email protected] www.magnificacomunitadicadore.it