The name of the city is derived from
Celtic belo-dunum which means "shining hill." It is conjectured that the population of the area that became Belluno was largely Venetic with a strong Celtic minority. However, as the Romans expanded northward into the Alps, the Celtic either emigrated or were absorbed. The people of the area swore friendship to Rome in the 225 BC conflict with the Gauls and again during the invasion by
Hannibal in the
Second Punic War. Founded perhaps around 220-200 BC the initial influence of Rome was military and commercial. Strategically located, the town protected cities to the south. Belluno also became a supplier of
iron and
copper. Already within the Roman sphere of influence, the town was juridically and politically incorporated into the Roman Republic by the second century BC. Sometime between the death of
Julius Caesar and the ascent of
Augustus, Bellunum became a Roman
municipium and its people were ascribed to the Roman tribe
Papiria. The town was ruled by quattorviri juri dicendo, by quattorviri aedilicia potestate, and by a Council of Elders. Under Augustus, it became part of
Regio X Venetia et Histria. Among its citizens were Caius Flavius Hostilius and his wife Domitia, whose 3rd century sarcophagus lies next to the church of San Stefano. After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire, it was ruled by the
Lombards (6th century) and the
Carolingians (8th century); the famous
Belluno Treasure in the British Museum dates from this period. From the late 9th century it was ruled by a count-bishop and it received a castle and a line of walls. Later it was a possession of the
Ghibelline family of the
Ezzelino. After having long contended the nearby territory with
Treviso, in the end Belluno gave itself to the
Republic of Venice during the
War of Padua (1404). The city was thenceforth an important hub for the transport of lumber from the
Cadore through the
Piave river. It remained Venetian until 1797. After the
fall of the Venetian Republic, Belluno was an
Austrian possession, until it was annexed to the
Kingdom of Italy in 1866. The cathedral was severely damaged by the
earthquake of 1873, which destroyed a considerable portion of the town, though the campanile stood firm. == Geography ==