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  • Historical outline

    Archaeological finds dating back to Palaeolith and the Iron Age revealed us that the current town had actually been inhabited since prehistory, whereas the Celtic civilization had been for sure developing and prevailing on the former Paleo-Venetians since 4th century b.C.

    In 50 b.C. Julius Caesar established here the forum, from which Forum Iulii, the ancient town name (the root of the current placename Friuli): the town achieved the rank of municipium and became soon one of the most important centres of the region as for commercial and military force.

    In 568 a.C. the Longobards came and Cividale won a lead role becoming the capital city of the first Longobard dukedom in Italy, held by Gisulf I, nephew of King Alboin.
    Later on, during king Liutprand’s reign, came also Callisto, the Patriarch of Aquileia: the coexistence of both top political and religious figures in the same place at the same time - the duke with the Longobard aristocracy and the Patriarch with all the hierarchy - definitively turned Cividale into a powerful religious and political capital city, as well centre of art and culture.

    It stood as Patriarch’s see even after Charlemagne (Charles the Great) succeeded in the Longobards expulsion (774 a.C.). Under rule of the Franks, Cividale, as capital city of the Eastern March of Regnum Italiae, held its political and religious prestigious position: between the late 9th century and the early 10th century it was named Civitas Austriae (i.e. eastern city), from which the current name derives.

    In 1077 emperor Henry IV granted the Patriarchate of Aquileia the power of jurisdiction - including duke’s privileges - over the whole Friulan territory, thus ratifying the administrative and territorial self-government of the Friulan Patriarchal State, as well as the role of Cividale as capital city of the Friulan Country.

    In the early decades of the 16th century also this city, as all the main Friulan centres, had to surrender to the conquering armies of the Republic of Venice: in 1420 Cividale submitted and was annexed for good to Serenissima’s dominions.

    In 1797, by means of the Treaty of Campoformido between Napoleon and Austria, Cividale came under Hapsburg empire rule, and that position, with the exception of a short period being a part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, was ratified by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Between 1848 and 1866 it was characterized by a ively Risorgimento movement that brought, after the Third Independence War, to the annexation of Cividale to the Italian Kingdom, together with Veneto and Friuli regions.

    More recently, during the First World War the city hosted for a short time the headquarters of the Second Army Corps and it had heavy damages from air raids. After the heavy defeat in Caporetto, it was occupied by the Austrian army. Cividale stands among the Cities that are decorated for Military Valour in the Liberation War, and awarded with Silver Medal for Military Valour in virtue of its citizens’ sacrifice and resistance war actions by Partisans during the Second World War.

    Birthplace of important figures of world culture, such as the historian Paolo Diacono, the painter and scene-designer Francesco Chiarottini, the actress Adelaide Ristori and the puppet master Vittorio Podrecca, Cividale’s rich heritage is made of monuments and works of art testifying its historical evolution, as marked and enriched by foreign civilizations.
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  • Palazzo Pontotti Brosadola

    Il Palazzo Pontotti Brosadola, costruito verso la metà del XVIII secolo, contiene al suo interno il miglior ciclo di affreschi della Città realizzati dal pittore cividalese Francesco Chiarottini.

    Il palazzo, costruito dai conti Pontotti, giunti a Cividale verso la metà del Settecento, conserva inalterate le forme originarie. I Pontotti commissionarono a Francesco Chiarottini le decorazioni interne, in particolare dello scalone, dei pianerottoli e del salone del piano nobile. Con grande abilità scenografica ed eleganza, Chiarottini dipinse, lungo lo scalone, colonnati che inquadrano vedute prospettiche, e sulla volta dello scalone un’immagine allegorica di derivazione tiepolesca.

    Ulteriori informazioni
    Informacittà
    Tel: +39 0432 710460
    E-mail: informacitta@cividale.net
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  • Chiesa di San Martino

    La piccola chiesa è situata sulla riva sinistra del Natisone, nei pressi del ponte del Diavolo; è arretrata rispetto al limite della strada, sul fondo di un ampio sagrato sollevato che, proseguendo lentamente alla chiesa, conduce al fiume. Il nucleo è già ricordato nel Trecento come centro di una arimannia longobarda, cioè come importante luogo di presidio militare. Nel 1661 sul sagrato vengono rinvenute tombe longobarde molto ricche, in virtù dell’importanza che il luogo sembra aver avuto durante il ducato longobardo. Nel Settecento viene trasportata qui l’ara del duca Ratchis, che rimane nella chiesa di San Martino sino al 1940.

    L’edificio e l’intero complesso subiscono forti rimaneggiamenti nel Seicento e verso la metà del secolo XVIII quei lavori (attribuiti a Domenico e Francesco Schiavi) determinano l’aspetto odierno. La sagrestia, un tempo abbellita da affreschi di Francesco Chiarottini, è arredata con mobili realizzati verso la fine del Settecento da Matteo Deganutti.

    Informacittà
    Tel: +39 0432 710460
    E-mail: informacitta@cividale.net
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