Italy’s smaller, smarter alternative to Venice

As Venice struggles with crowds and pollution, nearby Treviso is quietly proving that sustainability and good taste can go hand in hand.

The air is thick with salt and butter as a bowl of tagliatelle tangled with melted anchovies and shaved cod’s roe arrives at my table beside the canal. The sharp pop of a cork breaks the hum of restaurant chatter and waitress pours a glass of local white wine. Lunch has arrived.

“This is the king of butters,” I’m told by my waitress, who says the Alpine butter – Primiero Botìro – coating my pasta is a regional speciality. Made in mountain dairies during July and September from raw milk, she says, “it tastes best now”.

It’s September and I’m in Treviso, one of northern Italy’s most quietly delicious destinations and a place many travellers only pass through, landing here on low-cost carriers and then heading straight to nearby Venice. However, Treviso is worth a stop: a historic walled city laced with canals, where tiramisù first appeared on menus and radicchio and prosecco shape everyday life.

Most recently, it’s a destination turning heads by becoming the first Italian city to win the European Green Leaf Award, an EU initiative that recognises the environmental efforts of smaller towns and cities (20,000-100,000 residents).