UDINE
Udine, capital of Friuli, is an elegant city with interesting museums
and a well conserved historic centre. Any tour of Udine should start from
Piazza della Libertà which is, according to one very well-worn,
but certainly justified, definition, the loveliest “Venetian”
piazza on the mainland. Overlooking the square is the Loggia di Lionello,
its arches and delicate alternating pink and white decorative stone providing
one of the city’s most emblematic views.
The story of the loggia runs parallel with that of Udine, at whose heart
it was constructed in the mid fifteenth century to give the Comune, the
town’s ruling body, a new, prestigious home. It has kept that function,
albeit with various ups and downs, to the present day for the Udine town
council still meets today in one of its halls. Opposite, the sixteenth-century
Loggia di San Giovanni is flanked by the Torre dell’Orologio, the
clock tower, whose two Moors hammer out the hours. This was once an entrance
to the castle, whose impressive, frequently restructured bulk, today reminiscent
more of a palazzo than a feudal residence, dominates the piazza below.
Now, the way up to the castle is through the Arco Bollani. On top of the
arch, built in 1556 to a design by Andrea Palladio, stands the Lion of
Saint Mark. Once you have passed the church of Santa Maria in Castello,
the most ancient in the city, an elegant stepped portico leads to the
top of the hill. Next to the castle, which houses the art collections
of the civic museums, are the Casa della Confraternita di Santa Maria
and the Casa della Contadinanza.
Back in Piazza della Libertà, shoppers will find tempting retail
outlets and boutiques in Via Mercatovecchio, the portico-lined main shopping
street, and in Piazza Matteotti, one of Udine’s most attractive
corners which is still the venue for an open-air market. Places to see
in the centre of Udine are the Duomo, or cathedral, the baptistery and
the Oratorio delle Purità, frescoed by Tiepolo and visitable by
appointment (apply to the sacristy or tel. +39 0432 506830), all of which
stand round Piazza Duomo. Another place to visit is the Palazzo Patriarcale,
which boasts a superb cycle of paintings by Gian Battista Tiepolo, including
the outstanding stories from the Bible in the great gallery. It is also
the home of the diocesan museum. The Gallery of Modern Art is also worth
a visit for its paintings by the leading twentieth-century Italian artists
and by Friulian artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Palamostre,
Piazzale Diacono). Finally, remember to call at La Casa del Vino, in the
ancient Palazzo Tritonio-Moroldi Beretta, which showcases the finest of
Friuli-Venezia Giulia’s wines and is also the home of the Wine Service
of ERSA, the regional body for the promotion of agriculture (Via Poscolle
6, tel. +30 0432 297068).
Festivals and events
Mercatino dell’Antiquariato antique fair in Piazza San Giacomo/Piazza
Matteotti - first Sunday of every month
Udine Pedala cycling fun run - June
Estate in Città city centre events - July and August
Folkest international festival of folk music at Udine and surrounding
area - July
Paliodonna women’s horse race - September
Friuli DOC wine, food, events - October
Fiera di Santa Caterina fun fair in Piazza 1° Maggio - 25 November
Mercatino di Natale Christmas market at Udine Fiere - from mid December
The following are the main fairs held in the trade fair area of Udine
Esposizioni at
Martignacco:
Mostra d’Antiquariato Alpe Adria antique fair - February
Alimenta food fair - March
Hobby Sport Tempo Libero sport and leisure fair - March-April
Folkest, Udine and province - July
Salone Internazionale della Sedia chair fair - September
Casa Moderna home fair - September-October
A.R.E.S., historical collectors’ fair "Militaria" - October
Ideanatale Christmas gifts - November
Mostra Internazionale Canina dog show - November
Mostra d’Antiquariato Alpe Adria antique fair - December
Information:
Azienda Regionale per la Promozione Turistica
Piazza I° Maggio 7
tel. +39 0432 295972
fax +39 0432 504743
freephone 800 016044
e-mail: arpt1.ud@adriacom.it
www.regione.fvg.it
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TRICESIMO
Places to visit: Parish church (eighteenth century).
Castle (sixteenth century), with sanctuary on hill overlooking the Friulian
plains.
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CASSACCO
The town is dominated by the impressive bulk of the castle (fifteenth
century, now privately owned) with the chapel of Santa Maria Assunta.
At nearby Montegnacco is Villa Gallici Deciani (sixteenth-eighteenth centuries).
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COLLOREDO DI MONTALBANO
Colloredo di Monte Albano stands in the shadow of its imposing castle.
It was the home of writer Ippolito Nievo, who wrote his most celebrated
novel Le Confessioni di Un Italiano (Confessions of an Italian) here between
1857 and 1868, drawing his inspiration from the area and the events in
local people’s lives. Today, the castle is the focus of a literary
park dedicated to Nievo. Severely damaged in the 1976 earthquake, the
castle has more than three hundred rooms, many of which have now been
restored. The monumental complex is made up of several fourteenth-century
buildings, Its distinctive white profile, surmounted by a clock tower,
can been seen from a great distance on its hilltop, at the centre of the
morainic amphitheatre that embraces Udine to the north east. In the village
itself, the fourteenth-century frescoes in the chapel of San Pietro Apostolo
are well worth a visit.
Festivals
Festa del Pane bread fair - April
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MORUZZO
Places to visit: Castle (dating from twelfth century).
At nearby Santa Margherita del Gruagno is the parish church of the same
name (dating from the eleventh century, with eighteenth century additions),
at San Tomaso di Majano is the church of San Giovanni di Gerusalemme (twelfth
to sixteenth centuries) and at Brazzacco is the Villa di Brazzà
of Contessa Savorgnan di Brazzà
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FAGAGNA
Fagagna is noted for its Corsa degli Asini, or donkey race, held in early
September, and for the excellent cheese to which it gives its name. The
cheese is available directly from the producers - the town’s two
dairies. Nestling in the shadow of its ruined mediaeval castle, Fagagna
boasts a number of remarkable monuments, such as the ancient parish church
of Santa Maria Assunta and the Renaissance Casa della Comunità,
as well as an intriguing museum of rural life (Museo della Vita Contadina)
in Cjase Cocel. The ancient building has been restored to recreate the
ambiences of country life in days gone by. Outside, there is a broli,
or small farm, with mulberry trees, vines and vegetables, which is still
tended according to the ancient rhythms of yesteryear’s farmers.
A special section is set aside for women’s activities and the exquisite
tombolo, or Italian pillow, lace made at Fagagna in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries at the school founded by Contessa Cora Savorgnan
di Brazzà. Fagagna lace products vied in sophistication with Burano’s
and were even exported to the New World.
Also worth a visit is the splendid nearby mediaeval castle of Villalta.
Today privately owned, it is one of the most beautiful such edifices in
Friuli.
Festivals and events
Corsa degli Asini donkey race - September
Palio dei Borghi race - mid September
Easter re-enactment at Ciconicco di Fagagna - Easter week
Nature
Oasi dei Quadris park, with nesting storks.
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RIVE D’ARCANO
The castle of Rive d’Arcano is now privately owned but may be observed
from outside the grounds. One of the best conserved castles in the region,
it was built and extended from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries.
Other places to visit include the pieve, or parish church, of San Martino
(eighth century) and the church of San Mauro (from the twelfth, thirteenth
and fifteenth centuries) with contemporary frescoes.
Wineries
Castello di Arcano
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SAN DANIELE DEL FRIULI
A town with a rich heritage of art, culture and craft traditions, famous
for its prosciutto crudo, or air-cured ham.
Places to visit: Duomo of San Michele Arcangelo (fourteenth and eighteenth
centuries), Biblioteca Guarnieriana library (fifteenth century), church
of Madonna della Fratta (fifteenth century) and the church of Sant’Antonio
Abate (fifteenth century) with its superb Renaissance fresco cycle by
Pellegrino da San Daniele.
Typical products
Prosciutto di San Daniele air-cured ham
Nature
Lake of Ragogna
Festivals and events
Aria di Festa air-cured ham fair - late August
Mercatino dell’Antiquariato antiques fair - last Sunday of the month
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CODROIPO
This major economic centre on the Friulian flatlands lies at the heart
of the Grave del Friuli DOC wine zone. In the centre, visitors should
see the parish church of the Assunta (eighteenth century), one of the
most ancient in Friuli, and in the San Martino district, there is a fine
collection of fully functioning horse-drawn carriages from all over Europe.
These are being transferred to Villa Kechler. A short distance away, at
Rivolto, is the airfield of the national display team, the legendary Frecce
Tricolori, or Tricolour Arrows, renowned for their spectacular performances
at air shows around the globe. The base of the Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale,
the team’s official name, can be visited
during air shows (tel. +39 0432 902166). For further information, visit
the website www.aeronautica.difesa.it.
Opposite the airfield is the Vigneti Pietro Pittaro winery where you can
sample and purchase the entire range of Grave del Friuli DOC wines and
also visit the interesting museum of rural culture dedicated to the vine
and the grape (tel. +39 0432 904726).
At Passariano is Villa Manin, a magnificent sixteenth-century Venetian
villa that was radically restructured in the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries. It was the last residence in Friuli of the doges
of Venice. Severely damaged during the First World War, Villa Manin now
belongs, after restoration by the Ente Ville Venete body, to the regional
authority of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, which has made it the home of the
regional cataloguing centre and school of restoration. Its rooms are open
to the public. Villa Manin is also a museum, each year hosting major exhibitions
organised by the regional authority. Before exploring the interior, visitors
should admire the structure as a whole. Unique and imposing, Villa Manin
frames, and gives form to, the green of its extensive lawns by enclosing
them in a harmonious arrangement of snow-white outbuildings. The villa
was the centre of a vast estate and had to fulfil two main functions,
as an economically viable farm and as a setting for ceremonial occasions.
The complex layout of the buildings reflects this. The main residential
structure comprises a three-floored main building surmounted by a statue-topped
attic storey. It is flanked by two lateral barchesse, or service buildings,
that extend under airy porticoes around the large lawn. As a counterpoint
to this group, there is a large horseshoe-porticoed exedra enclosing a
second lawn in front of the villa, in a sort of unexpected, imaginary
continuation of the barchesse. The interior of Villa Manin is a succession
of frescoed rooms grouped around the great central hall, whose height
extends up through all three storeys. The chapel and the stables, where
there is a fine collection of old horse-drawn carriages, are also worth
a visit. Behind the villa is a splendid, secluded and often unnoticed
garden, which may also be visited.
Wineries
Vigneti Pietro Pittaro (loc. Zompicchia)
Typical products
Montasio cheese protection consortium
Nature
Resurgent springs park
Festivals and events
Mostra Mercato del Montasio cheese fair and Fiera di san Simone market
– October
Mostra Mercato dell’Antiquariato antiques market at Villa Manin
– spring and winter.
Avostanis at Agriturismo Ai Colonos, Villacaccia di Lestizza – August
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CAMINO AL TAGLIAMENTO
Wineries
Ferrin Paolo
Horse riding
Centro Ippico La Quercia (Gorizzo)
Festivals and events
Wine festival - late May
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BERTIOLO
Places to see: Parish church (eighteenth century). At
nearby Sterpo is Villa Colloredo Venier (from the fourteenth, eighteenth
and twentieth centuries), incorporating the remains of a fourteenth-century
castle.
Wineries
Cabert - Cantina di Bertiolo
Festivals and events
Wine festival - March
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TALMASSONS
Wineries
Mangilli - Grappe Mangilli (Flumignano di Talmassons)
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MORTEGLIANO
Places to visit: Parish church of Santi Pietro e Paolo (nineteenth century),
with one hundred and thirteen-metre bell tower and gilded wooden altar
by Giovanni Martini (1526).
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PAVIA DI UDINE
Places to visit: Parish church of San Ulderico and church
of San Giovanni dei Battuti (from fourteenth, fifteenth and nineteenth
centuries). Villa Lovaria (seventeenth and nineteenth centuries). There
are numerous Venetian villas in the surrounding area: at Persereano, Villa
Florio (eighteenth century); at Lauzacco, Villa Beretta; at Risano, Villa
Pighin (eighteenth century); at Lovaria, Villa Dragoni Giacomelli (fifteenth
and eighteenth centuries).
Wineries
Pighin (Risano)
Festivals and events
Sagre dai Pirùs pear fair – August
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