It is one of the oldest and most striking buildings in the city. Originally, it was the convent of a Franciscan community, documented in Belluno as early as the 13th century. The complex was then rebuilt along with the church of San Pietro, adjacent to the convent and consecrated in 1326. Traces of the fine Gothic composition remain in the oldest cloister. The church was reconstructed in Baroque style in 1750.
Inside the Seminary, the two large cloisters testify to the architectural evolution of the complex: the so-called Gothic cloister, from the 15th century, which on the south wall features busts of the leading religious figures from the Belluno Franciscan family, while the flooring consists of 18th-century tomb slabs from the noble families of the time. Equally interesting is the nearby Renaissance cloister, from the 16th century, which has a well from 1730 at its center, built over a cistern fed by rainwater collection.
Suppressed in 1807 by the Napoleonic requisitions, the building housed the departmental high school in 1810 and since 1834 has hosted the new seminary, which the Belluno-born Pope Gregory XVI wished to name after Saint Gregory the Great. The complex was renovated in 1952, the year of the realization of the new façade, designed by the Belluno architect Alberto Alpago-Novello. Further restoration occurred around the turn of the millennium.
Since 2016, the seminarians of the diocese have been hosted in the seminary of Trento. The structure is still active as it houses the classical-scientific high school named after Bishop Alvise Lollino and the local educational center of the “Giovanni Paolo I” Institute of Higher Religious Sciences, promoted and supported by the three dioceses of Belluno-Feltre, Treviso, and Vittorio Veneto.
Additionally, the Seminary houses two libraries: the Gregoriana Library and the chapter library, known as “Lolliniana,” which boasts several valuable ancient codices.
