"What Is Your Favorite Italian Town?"

Many friends asked me, “What is your favorite Italian town?”

I replied, “Belluno.”

Belluno??? Not Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, !!!

Sorry, but I have to say Belluno!

I got relief when a Deaf American cyclist, Ralph Fernandez, came to rescue me! After cycling around the Dolomites in 2017, he told me, “Belluno is very beautiful, and your dad was lucky to stay there.”

Was my father in Belluno, Italy???

(View of Belluno and the Dolomites, Italy. Credit: Belluno by Bigstock.com)

Yes-!!!!!!!!!!

On May 2, 1945, my dad’s 337th Infantry Regiment liberated Santa Giustina (10 miles/16 km west of Belluno) and received the news of the German Surrender.

(The Exhibit of "Liberation of Santa Giustina on May 2, 1945" at the City Hall of Santa Giustina)

On the following day, the 85th Infantry Division ordered the 337th Regiment to military-occupied Belluno, and the Regiment bivouacked at the farm (now the Tenuta Centore Winery - pictured below) after a short stay in the primary school inside Belluno.

Watch the video of today’s Belluno.

Belluno is not very Italian but charming! Before 1866, it was an Austrian possession.

Every time a poll or survey publishes a list of the best places to live. They showed that Belluno is in the top 10. The 2018 survey ranked Belluno third while Florence at 54th, Milan at 55th, and Rome at 85th.

(Lagansa dinner at La Buca Restaurant, next to Albergo Cappello)

2001: After the 2001 Summer Deaflympics in Rome, I took my first solo trip following my dad’s war route for one week. After sleeping overnight on a train from Florence, I stopped in Belluno and walked around the city center.

(eBay image)

I mailed out an “I was here” postcard to my dad. Then, I returned to a rail station—just one day.

2015: After months of email correspondence, I took another solo trip and was greeted by Marco Perale, a local historian with expertise in the local history of the 337th Regiment. He gave me a quick tour.

So I asked him to take a picture of me sitting on a pool wall. He did. There, I spent

(Top: Howard in 2015. Bottom: Paul in 1945 at Parco di Piazza dei Martiri)

two nights. Accommodation: Albergo Cappello.

2016: After traveling up on Italy’s boot, my first tour for sons of my dad’s Regiment arrived at the last destination - Belluno. After the whirlpool tour, Perale took us to meet the city officials.

(Top: (R to L) Marco Perale, Santa Giustina Mayor Ivan Minell, Howard, Santa Giustina City official, and Don Jones. Bottom: (L to R): Belluno City Board Member Biagio Giannone, Vice Mayor Lucia Olivotto, Marco Perale, Don Jones, and Howard.)

Accommodation for two nights: Albergo Cappello.

2018: Hooray, I rented an Airbnb room for 28 evenings!

(Top: View from my 2018 Airbnb room. Bottom: Posed at Parco di Piazza dei Martiri - five walking minutes from this room)

2019: I served as Tour Guide of the second 337th Regiment Tour and stayed in Belluno for two nights at Albergo Cappello.

(Tourists (L to R) Mike Freeman, Beth Darrow, Gary Haskins, and Becky Haskins with Guide Marco Perale on the evening tour)

2020: The 75th Anniversary of the German Surrender (to my dad’s 337th Regiment) at La Stanga (north of Belluno) was supposed to be held on May 2, 2020, but Covid canceled it. But we will try May 2, 2025, for the 80th Anniversary.

[NOTE: I cautioned these tourists that Albergo Cappello was rather old, but it is excellent to be close to the city center (see the above picture). They did not care about the oldness. Suddenly, I checked its website last month, and it shows “super nice” after the major renovation!]

To obtain more information, click Belluno Turismo. Yes, Belluno is at the foot of the Dolomites, including Cortina d'Ampezzo.

(Photo by Sandro Cafferata in Google Maps on August 2021)