Province of Belluno

The province of Belluno (Italian: provincia di Belluno; Austrian German: provinz Belluno; Ladin: provinzia de Belum) is a province in the region of Veneto in Italy. Its capital is the city of Belluno.

It has a population of 197,708 in an area of 3,610 square kilometres (1,390 mi²) across its 61 municipalities.

The oldest archaeological find in the province is that of Lagole di Calalzo, in Cadore, belonging to a c. 5th century BC sanctuary dedicated to a health god of Paleoveneti. A larger site, a necropolis, has been excavated in the commune of Mel. Findings from these sites are now housed in the Museums of Pieve di Cadore and Mel.

From the 10th to 12th century the area that became Belluno was part of the March of Verona, a march of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 14th century much of the area came under the control of the Carraresi lords of Padua. In 1404 the Carraresi territories, including Feltre and Belluno, were conquered by the Republic of Venice, becoming part of the Venetian Domini di Terraferma. Cadore in the north also became part of the Domini di Terraferma following the Venetian conquest of Friuli in 1420. In 1511 Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor conquered the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, detaching it from Cadore and incorporating it into the County of Tyrol.

Venetian rule lasted until 1797 when Venice was conquered by the French First Republic during the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars. Rather than being annexed by France or its satellites, the Venetian territory east of Lake Garda, including Belluno, was ceded to the Habsburg monarchy (Austria) in the Treaty of Campo Formio, thereby becoming the Venetian Province. This state of affairs only lasted until 1805 however, as Austria (the Austrian Empire since 1804) ceded the Venetian Province to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in the Treaty of Pressburg. Within the Kingdom of Italy, modern Belluno roughly corresponded to the Piave [it] department.

After the Napoleonic Wars the former Venetian Province was returned to Austria by the 1815 Congress of Vienna, becoming part of the newly formed Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. Under Austrian rule Lombardy–Venetia was organised into provinces roughly corresponding to the Napoleonic departments; the Piave department was succeeded by the province of Belluno, which broadly coincides with the modern province.

During the unification of Italy Austria lost Lombardy–Venetia to what became the Kingdom of Italy (the western part (i.e. Lombardy) in 1859, the eastern part (i.e. Venetia and Mantua) including Belluno in 1866).

In 1919, following World War I, Italy obtained what had been the southern part of the County of Tyrol from Austria-Hungary: Trentino and South Tyrol. In 1923 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Colle Santa Lucia and Livinallongo del Col di Lana were detached from this territory and added to Belluno.