Tolmezzo

A fashionable city in the eighteenth century

A stroll through the city

Among elegant noble family palazzos, eighteenth century churches, arcades and covered walkways, time in the Tolmezzo town goes by, revealing an alpine town with unique appeal. Walking along the streets of the centre you can admire the façades of the buildings that once belonged to well-to-do local families, you can see the precious artistic treasures kept in the churches and museums, but you can also stop for an aperitif in one of the many bars and cafés that liven up the town, and spend the evening at the cinema or theatre.

Tolmezzo: the mediaeval places

It was a very lively little town, dedicated to traffic and commercial trade, between the 13th and 14th Century: In this period small mills and several artisan’s workshops, particularly those specialising in textile production, were built along the road which is still known as Borgo Della Roggia (Via Del Din, Via Linussio) today. The city was surrounded by high walls, eighteen towers and three gates, one of which, the Porta di Sotto, can still be seen. The Porta di Sotto, standing at the southern entrance to the old city, dating back to the thirteen or fourteenth Century, represents one of the remains of the ancient city walls: it seems that this is where duty on goods in transit was paid. The castle or patriarchal palazzo stood a little way above the town, on the slopes of Monte Strabut. A moat bound it towards the mountains and the surrounding area was closed off by a wall sloping down into the valley. Torre Picotta was built between 1477 and 1479 to defend the town and castle against the Turkish menace. Walking up Via Cascina, a side street of Via Roma takes you into the Pra-Castello area, where the manor house stood, and Torre Picotta. The view from here takes in the entire surrounding countryside and the city itself.

Borgat

The oldest area of the city is called Borgat and is where Piazza Santa Caterina is today. This is where the oldest market was held, recorded in historical documents since the Ninth Century. In Piazza Santa Caterina, you can still admire Casa Janesi, from the 14th-15th Century, which represents one of the few surviving examples of civil construction form the late Mediaeval period present in the city. The façade, now in exposed stonework, would originally have been covered with geometric design frescos. Some traces remain in the fragments conserved in the upper section of the front façade. The Venetian Gothic style mullioned windows are particularly characteristic. Almost opposite stands the Church of Santa Caterina, of Mediaeval origins, but entirely rebuilt in 700. Its interior houses various works by local artists and an excellent altar piece depicting the Wedding of Santa Caterina created in 1537 and commonly attributed to the painter Pomponio Amalteo, a follower of Il Pordenone. Very close by, following along below the arcades of Via Roma, heading towards the town, you find Palazzo De Marchi, which was in the past used as a theatre hall and cinema, and whose façade was designed by the famous architect Raimondo D'Aronco.

The heart of the town

The Cathedral of San Martino looks down over the town's main square, Piazza XX Settembre. The current building was constructed between 1752 and 1764 to a design by Domenico Schiavi, one of the most important Friulian architects of the 18th century, on the site of a previous church. In this period the Carnic centre was enjoying a positive economic period evidenced by several buildings being put in order and the construction of new exclusive residences like Palazzo Linussio, Palazzo Campeis, Frisacco and Garzolini. In this climate of well-being and renovation construction of the Cathedral was started, which, with its sizeable dimensions and the decorative richness of its interiors, provides a splendid reflection of the dynamic building scene and the evolution of Tolmezzo society. Its richly decorated interior conserves frescos and canvases by local painters alongside works by some of the most important Venetian artists of the age. The numerous works safeguarded in the ecclesiastical buildings, a unique architecture resulting from Venetian influence mingled with local forms and museums famous throughout the region, make Tolmezzo a true city of art. The collections of Palazzo Campeis, home of the Carnic Museum of Popular Art and Tradition, represent one of the region’s most important collections of ethnographic material, the result of painstaking research carried out by Michele Gortani (1883-1966) in the Carnia area from 1920 on. The museum documents the life, customs, agriculture and industry of Carnia over the years, with extensive collections of utensils, tools and clothes, and with the reconstruction of typical environments (kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, old-fashioned workshops). To complete the artistic journey in the capital of Carnia, don't forget to visit Palazzo Frisacco, where interesting temporary exhibitions dedicated to contemporary art are put on.

Palazzo Linussio

Palazzo Linussio (1741), just a short distance from the old town, is one of the town’s most prestigious buildings. It was built to a design by architect Domenico Schiavi for the famous eighteenth century businessman Jacopo Linussio and combines the residential area and the area destined for industrial activity in one complex. The main body, flanked by two barns, contains the living quarters; at the back two extensive wings, once upon a time flanked by canals, enclose a vast courtyard and define the areas reserved for work. The interiors of the residence, now open to the public on rare and special occasions, present the classic typology of noble family palazzo with a large, lavishly decorated large central saloon with balustrade. The frescos, on the walls and ceiling, depicting historic and mythological scenes restore the air of prestige to the environment that it must have had in the eighteenth century. An elegant family chapel dedicated to Maria Annunziata from the same period as the factory completes the ensemble. The 1788 earthquake seriously damaged the factories and the company shut down in 1818. Nowadays Palazzo Linussio is home to Cantore Barracks.

Cathedral of San Martino

The Cathedral of San Martino is the city’s most important religious building. Built in the eighteenth century, the interior is also worth seeing, where works by the Venetian painters Fontebasso, Novelli and Diziani are conserved along with the series of the Apostles executed by the greatest Carnic painter of the eighteenth century, Nicola Grassi.