The church of San Teonisto, in the Old Town of Treviso, was built by the Benedictine nuns of the Monastery of Mogliano Veneto in 1434, in a style that marks the shift between Late Gothic and early Renaissance.

After a troubled history that saw it partially despoiled in the Napoleonic era, hit by bomb raids in WWII, used for various purposes and neglected for years in the second half of the twentieth century, in 2010 it was purchased by Luciano Benetton who then gifted it to Fondazione Benetton. The complex restoration works were overseen by architect Tobia Scarpa, who restored the roof that had been destroyed by the 1944 bomb raids and restored the building’s original single nave layout. Every single trace of surviving decoration, such as the refined cycle of frescoes, was restored with painstaking and skilful work.

The significant architecturalstructural project was complemented by restoration and placing back of nearly all the original paintings – commissioned during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by the Benedictine nuns to some of the most important painters of the time, including Paolo Veronese, Palma il Giovane, il Padovanino, Pietro Della Vecchia – and by adding creative new items, such as the four large blown glass chandeliers that light the hall. Between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, the church underwent a new phase of technical adaptation works and the restoration of the tympanum on the façade, as well as another important cultural operation: the acquisition of three new canvases that complete the artistic cycle where the original paintings could not be recovered, commissioned from Bosnian artist Safet Zec.

Next to the hall is the former vestry, partially reconstructed and laid out with three rooms on ground floor and first floor, connected by a new iron and wood staircase. The original stucco work on the ground floor has been restored, carefully and painstakingly integrating any missing parts.

Today the church offers prestigious premises in the very heart of the town, suited to meeting a variety of functional needs thanks to an ingenious system of foldaway stands that makes it possible to use the spaces either as an exhibition hall or as auditorium, to host diverse events such as conferences, workshops, exhibitions, buffet receptions, aperitifs. The entire complex is accessible through a small courtyard that acts as open-air foyer and features an installation of four columns, three of which are topped with an ancient Ionic capital.