It was the seat for almost four hundred years of the Venetian rectors who governed Belluno and its territory. On a pre-existing and more backward fortified building built from 1409 (and completely burned in 1802) was added in 1491 by the Venetian rector Maffeo Tiepolo on the west side a first two-storey Lombard loggia, resting on three arches.
In 1496 an extension project designed by the Venetian Giovanni Candi (the author of the "bovolo" of Palazzo Contarini in Venice) was adopted, which was interrupted several times until the crisis following the war of Cambray. It was finally completed in 1536 during the rectorate of Girolamo Rimondi. Between 1536 and 1547 the clock tower was built, designed by Valerio da San Vittore. On the facade, coats of arms and busts of Venetian rectors of the XV-XVII centuries. Inside many rooms, despite the radical restorations that have been necessary several times following the earthquakes of the last two centuries, have retained the original appearance, in particular the central hall of the second floor and the nearby room, with the ceiling sansovina. It is the seat of the Prefecture.
