Veneto · Treviso
Follina
A Prosecco-hills borgo around the Cistercian Abbey of Santa Maria, with a cloister finished in 1268.
Known for
CISTERCIAN ABBEY
Santa Maria built from 1170, cloister finished 1268, minor basilica and national monument since 1921.
WOOL FULLING
The Sanavalle stream powered fulling mills from antiquity to the nineteenth century, the trade that gave the town its name.
PROSECCO SUPERIORE
Vineyards in the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene UNESCO zone inscribed in 2019, on the slopes around Pedeguarda and Farrò.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Follina sits where a stream cuts out of the Treviso Prealps into the upper Prosecco hills, sixty-five kilometers northwest of Padova. The name comes from follare, to full wool, and the Sanavalle stream powered fulling mills here from antiquity through the nineteenth century. A monastic complex existed before the Cistercians arrived in the mid-twelfth century, likely a Benedictine house dependent on San Fermo di Verona.
The Cistercians built the Abbey of Santa Maria from 1170; the cloister was completed in 1268. The abbey is now a minor basilica and parish seat, a national monument since 1921, with frescoes of the Veneto-Byzantine school in the chapter house and a thirteenth-century stone Madonna inside the church. The Brandolini family, lords of nearby Cison di Valmarino, used Follina as a textile center through the Venetian period.
The borgo carries five institutional signals at once. The frazione of Pedeguarda holds the older parish church; the centro of Follina runs along the abbey wall and the stream that powered the mills.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Follina’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Abbazia di Santa Maria
Cistercian abbey built from 1170, with the cloister completed in 1268, raised to minor basilica and a national monument since 1921.
Chiostro dell'Abbazia
Cistercian cloister of 1268, with twin colonnettes, sculpted capitals and a central well, intact in its medieval form.
Sala del Capitolo
Abbey chapter house with frescoes of the Veneto-Byzantine school from the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.
Centro storico
Stone village around the abbey wall, on the line of the Sanavalle stream that powered the wool-fulling mills the town is named for.
Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo
Parish church in the frazione of Pedeguarda, older than the abbey, with a medieval campanile rebuilt in the eighteenth century.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Follina fits in a slow Italy circuit.
Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.
We recommend
Where to eat and stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to — a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
La CorteRistorante
La Corte has two Gambero Rosso forks (82/100) and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Osteria dai MazzeriTrattoria
Two Gambero Rosso prawns for Osteria dai Mazzeri, and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Al CastellettoTrattoria
Al Castelletto holds two Gambero Rosso prawns.
Living here
- Population 3,535
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Venice, 57 min drive
- Regional capital Venezia, 1 h 13 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 191 m
- Population: 3,535
- Surface area: 24.08 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Follina
Pieve di Soligo
Province: Treviso
The market town between the Soligo and Lierza rivers in the Prosecco UNESCO zone, birthplace of the twentieth-century poet Andrea Zanzotto.
Cison di Valmarino
Province: Treviso
A Prosecco hills borgo at 261 meters under the dolomite rock of CastelBrando, the largest inhabited castle complex in Europe.
Farra di Soligo
Province: Treviso
The heart of the Prosecco Hills UNESCO landscape — an 8,477-resident comune in the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG zone (UNESCO World Heritage since 2019), with the three medieval Torri di Credazzo crowning a hilltop above its vineyards, Cittaslow + Città del Vino signals, and direct walking access to the most photographed stretch of the hogback ridge.
Borgo Valbelluna
Province: Belluno
Veneto's youngest comune anchored by an old Borgo — a 13,410-resident comune formed in 2019 by the fusion of Mel + Trichiana + Lentiai in the Belluno-province pre-Dolomite Piave valley, with the BPB-inscribed Mel centro storico (a perfectly preserved 16th-c Venetian terraferma piazza) and the 11th-c Castello di Zumelle on a forested ridge above.
Vittorio Veneto
Province: Treviso
Two old towns fused at 138 meters under the Cansiglio, where the October 1918 battle ended the First World War on the Italian front.
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