The legendary origins of Treviso

It is well known knowledge that the more ancient a place is, the more legends there are telling of its founding: this is the case of the historic city of Treviso, one of the pearls of our beloved Veneto.

It is said that there are three legends about the founding of Treviso.

One of these tells that Treviso was founded by the Taurisci, an ancient population of Celtic-Oriental origins, who worshiped the god Apis, an Egyptian deity with the features of a bull. The Venetians who were under the occupation of the population of the Giants, asked the god Api for help to regain the lost freedom. So, together with the Taurisci population, Apis fought the Giants in a glorious battle and defeated them. In memory of this extraordinary event, Taurisium, the city of the Sacred Bull, was founded.

The second legendary hypothesis tells that Treviso was founded by Osiris, descendant of Noah, who reigned in the area of Italy for ten years. When he died, he was worshiped in the form of a bull and that was how the city took the name of Taurisium.

The last story instead traces the origin of Treviso to Dardano, progenitor of the Trojans who founded the city of Eugania in the region of Veneto. To defend it, Dardano built four fortresses, the largest of which took the name of Tusino, commanded by Montorio, the presumed progenitor of the Collalto family. Montorio put the statue of a girl with three heads at the entrance of the main city gate. Each head had three faces and this led to the word Tusino being altered to Tre-visi.

Three extraordinary stories that turn the founding of Treviso into a legend: which one did you enjoy the most?

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