Montello has been inhabited since
pre-historical times;
chipped stone points from the
Mesolithic have been found along the northern edge. The early inhabitants probably occupied the many natural caves that bore into the hill. In
Classical Antiquity the region surrounding Montello was settled by reformed soldiers of the
Roman army. During the
Middle Ages, the
Certosa (
Carthusian monastery) of
San Gerolamo and the
abbey of
Sant'Eustachio were built. It was in the latter that, between 1550 and 1555,
Giovanni Della Casa wrote
Il Galateo. The
oaks and
chestnut trees that covered Montello since antiquity used to be a major source of timber for the region, especially for the
shipyards and
building foundations of Venice. Due to its strategic importance, the
Republic of Venice assumed the ownership of the hill, and declared it off-limits to the local population. Deprived of their homes and their main source of income, the
hunters and
woodsmen of Montello became a class of landless, homeless and jobless miserables, the
bisnenti (the 'twice have-nots'), who survived on odd jobs and occasionally crimes. Eventually, many locals took to the roads of emigration, in the Americas, France, Germany and Australia. In 1892, moved by the plight of the
bisnenti,
Senator Pietro Bertolini pushed through legislation which parcelled Montello land among them. The initiative was not very successful, since the poor soil was not very suitable for agriculture. In any case, the re-settlement and the ravages of World War I led to the demise of the native woods, and their partial replacement by
robinias, a bush native to the Americas that was brought to the region in the late 18th century. On 24 July 1930, Montello area was affected by
an extremely violent tornado, probably the strongest in Europe in historical times, with gusts estimated at 500 km/h and an estimated ranking of F5 on the Fujita scale. It was strong enough to level masonry buildings, and it caused the death of at least 21 people. == See also ==