ProValvasone

Tourism - - by webmaster 06/10/2011 @ 17:37

Tourism - Tourist services - by webmaster 20/01/2009 @ 19:24

Guided tours

The volunteers of the Pro Valvasone are on hand to make guided tours for free after booking (minimum 10 people).

Booking: tel. 0434 898898
e-mail: valvasone.ufftur@virgilio.it

Bicycle rental

Terms of rental:

a 5� deposit (which will be given back at the restitution of the bikes, unless possible damage will be found)
copy of a valid identity paper

Tourism - Medieval Festival - by webmaster 20/01/2009 @ 19:18

Middle Ages in Valvasone

For more than a decade, on the second week of September, Valvasone becomes the natural setting for a Medieval Festival called �Medioevo a Valvasone� (Middle Ages in Valvasone).

The festival is organized by the Grup Artistic Furlan with two main intents: in the first place to let people know what life was like in Dante and Boccaccio�s times; secondly to promote one of the best well-preserved historic centres in Friuli.
In these three days, which go from Friday to Sunday, the visitors will be catapulted to the Middle Ages and will walk among the ancient handicraft shops reconstructed in the alleys and in the small squares of the town. Moreover they will witness scenes of medieval everyday life and they�ll taste the flavours of the ancient food in the tabernae laid out for the occasion.

For the hard to please, every year a fairy-like medieval dinner is organized in the suggestive setting of the Old Dominican Monastery embellished for the occasion with flower decorations and lit with torches. The commensals, sitted on the four sides of the cloister, will taste typical medieval dishes served by charming handmaids dressed up with the costumes of the time and will watch shows of jongleurs, jesters and fire-eaters.
They�ll be able to support knights masters at fighting with swords and to dance the traditional dances of the time such as the saltarello.
The success of the medieval dinner is witnessed by the presence of guests coming from all over northern Italy.

The event is characterised by a theme that changes every year.

Almanac of the Medieval Festivals:

1993	Insediamento dei Conti di Cucagna a Valvasone The first Medieval Festival focused on the birth of the lineage of the di Valvasone.
1994	Vita e attività nella contea Everyday life at the centre of the Medieval Festival: not only sumptuous parades but also the real medieval life of every day.
1995	Leggi e regolamenti giuridici � Conseguenze della peste A trial that really tok place in Valvasone and the account of what the plague of 1348 was like.
1996	Incendio nel Borgo � Magia e musica Because of an act of retaliation the whole village was burned in 1363.
1997	La fede e la spada Marcellino da Cosa goes on the Crusades.
1998	Venus et vinum The passing of a mysterious knight that enjoys fighting dressed up as a woman.
1999	Il pellegrino Most of the times the pilgrimages were made in order to expiate some guilt�and this happened in Valvasone too.
2000	Rosa fresca e aulentissima The woman at the centre of the attention. She could be aristocratic, religious or of the people and the brothel already exixted at that time.
2001	Sii tu lieto d�esser bovo The biggest part of the population used to live thanks to agriculture.
2002	Aqua vitae Water as an eternal source of life but also of death.
2003	Focus, terra, caelum et aqua Medieval people too used to look at the stars.
2004	S�i fosse fuoco, arderei �l mondo The fire, destructive alement, and the game, something indefeasible also in the Middle Ages.
2005
2006	Omnes homines, omnes creatures The theme of the new Medieval Festival focuses on the figure of St. Francis of Assisi.
2007	'l mondo sol di lui canta e favella The legend of St. George and the dragon.
2008	Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe The theme of the Medieval Festival is inspired by the Hell of Dante�s Divine Comedy.

Sightseeing - The tabletop Organ - by webmaster 04/01/2009 @ 16:40

The tabletop Organ

In St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Anthony Abbot Church is kept the only exemplar of tabletop organ of the area between Veneto and Friuli. It probably comes from the castle. It was probably built between sixteenth and seventeenth century and it was initially carried by two handles on the sides and rested on a table.

In the eighteenth century it was placed in the choirstall expressly built and fixed on a wooden pedestal. The casing was reworked and the doors were turned into two sliding doors. The bellows were substituted with two bigger bellows fixed on the choirstall. The keyboard was mounted on the pedestal and a small pedalboard was added. The parapet of the choirstall was decorated with flowers and plant frames. In the nineteenth century the background was decorated with the corners held by two angels.

Sightseeing - The old Serviti Monastery - by webmaster 04/01/2009 @ 00:05

The old Serviti Monastery

The monastery was built in front of the fourteenth-century Church dedicated to St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist, outside the defensive walls. In 1484 the bishop allowed the construction of the coenoby of the Serviti.

In 1494 the Serviti friars entered the monastery and in 1500 the bishop consecrated the church which had been provided with an altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of Grace. During the centuries the confraternity and the priors of the monastery fought for the right to call the processions and many times the friars closed the door of the church preventing the believers to enter.

In 1656,a papal bull of Alexander VII ordered the closedown of the Italian monasteries which were too small, among which also the monastery of Valvasone. Anyway, the church remained in use. This church had on its inside seven altars: the High Altar, the altar of St. Denis, the one of St. Celso, another dedicated to the Madonna della Pietà, the altar of the Holy Trinity and the one of St. George and James.

The monastery remained closed only for few years because in 1665 the Counts obtained the permission to reopen it and here set up home 12 Dominican priests. In 1731 the monastery the works of renovation started because it was unsafe. First of all they built the building which is still visible, on the side of the church. During the works the priests were out and returned to the monastery 20 years later when the renovation was over. But once again they were allowed to remain in the monastery for a short time because in 1770, on the orders of Venetian Senate, it was closed.

The church was still sued but in 1797 it was invaded by the Napoleonic troops. They used it as barracks and then as warehouse. In 1866 the church was demolished.

Nowadays some rooms are used as parsonage. Only three sides of the arcade of the monastery are left standing. Recent works of renovation have raised the fourth side that continues the already existing architecture and closes the inner courtyard.

Sightseeing - St. Peter, Paul and Anthony Abbot Church - by webmaster 03/01/2009 @ 23:53

St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Anthony Abbot Church

Between the tenth and the twelfth century Friuli had become one of the most popular ways among the pilgrims and the patriarchs of Aquileia, thoughtful of the travelers, promoted the construction of hospitals and hospices. According to the tradition, the hospital of Valvasone was founded in the tenth century.

The documents, which go from 1350 to 1359, state that it was founded by the three brothers Simone, Giovanni and Ulrico di Cucagna to give shelter to the wayfarer that crossed the Tagliamento. According to a legend, the hospital rose on a temple dedicated to Zeus.

Firstly it was labeled as Hospital of St. Mary and it was in charge of the confraternity of the Battuti. The latter, during the fifteenth century, lived a quite difficult period that prevented them to carry on with their social activity. Therefore the nobles of Valvasone with a group of villagers created a new confraternity to run the hospital. In June 1461, after the assent of the bishop of Concordia, the confraternity was instituted under the name of St. Peter, Paul and Anthony Abbot for the health of the souls, for the poor beggar and the needy. In the hospital there were four rooms for the nurses and the pilgrims.

The church was probably built between 1461 and 1464 with bricks and stones. The stone portal is in tune with style of that period. The bell tower, at the corner behind the façade, dates back to the seventeenth century.
In 1584 a papal delegate came to Valvasone to check if the regulations of the Council of Trent had been put into practice. From the documents of this control we get to know that the church had three altars: the high altar with an altar piece; the one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and the altar of the Holy Trinity, which was demolished. The chapel comes out of the fusion of two old rooms. Between 1739 and 1760 the perimeter walls of the nave and of the presbytery were raised. New windows were opened and a new high altar was built.

In 1806 Napoleon abolished the confraternity but the hospice carried on with its activity.

The wooden high altar dates back to 1642 and it is carved and painted pure gold and white. The nineteenth-century altar piece represents St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Anthony Abbot and other Saints. On the sides there are two small statues representing St. Paul and St. Anthony Abbot. The two side altars are dedicated to the Holy Visitation and to the Madonna del Rosario. The first one is made of wood and it belongs to the seventeenth century like the altar piece overhanging which represents a view of the ancient Valvasone. The other altar is a masonry-work with artistic value because it was added to make the aspect symmetric.

The frescoes date back to 1497 and were painted by Pietro da Vicenza: entering the church we can see on the left a Crucifixion belong to the school of Tolmezzo. On the side wall there are four couples of Saints that flank the Holy Trinity, which is painted under a arcaded loggia opened at the back and divided by columns. On the same wall there�s another fresco that represents St. Christopher and St. Jerome. In the chancel is another fresco representing the Madonna on the throne between St. Sebastian, St. Rocco, St. Leonard and St. Job. Fascinating is the tabletop organ which may belong to a period going from the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century. The builder is unknown so as the origin of this instrument.

Sightseeing - Mercato Square - by webmaster 03/01/2009 @ 23:17

Mercato Square

Mercato Square has a stretched out rectangular shape. Along its sides there are different palaces dating back to different ages.

Moving clockwise, we find the Town Hall, an high-class building of the eighteenth century that functions as Town Hall since 1883. The frescos testify the presence of different architectural structures which go from the fifteenth century to the seventeenth century. On the outside it�s interesting to note the corner of the building which is borne by a column with a capital decorated with the coat of arms of the Valvason.

On the façade of the building near the Town Hall it�s still visible a part of a decoration of the fifteenth century composed of anthropomorphic figures.

There follows a house � warehouse of the sixteenth century- and a small palace of the same century with the coat of arms of the Valvason on the architrave of the portal of access.

On the opposite side is a line of buildings that is supported by the second circle of the defence walls.

Sightseeing - The Miracle Relict of the - by webmaster 03/01/2009 @ 23:10

The "Sacra Tovaglia"

The relict of the "Sacra Tovaglia" is kept in the top part of the tabernacle of the high altar in the St. Christ's Holy Body Church. Inside a reliquary is the blood-stained linen cloth rolled up a rundle.

The miracle occurred in 1294 in the church of Gruaro: rinsing a Communion Cloth, a laundress saw on her hands some blood puored fron a consecrated host. Scared, the woman informed the parson who brought to the church the miracle cloth as an evidence of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

The Bishop of Concordia was informed of the miracle too and he wanted to keep the sacred flax in the cathedral. But the Lords of Cucagna, owners of the church of Gruaro, opposed him and a quarrel began. In the courts in Rome it was settled that the relict belonged to the Lords of Valvasone, on condition that they would build a church in favour of it. Then it was put in the rich and artistic silver vase in which it is still kept.

On the 25^thMarch 1454 the pope Nicholas V delegated the Dean of Aquileia to give permission to the Counts of Valvasone to build the new church, which was then dedicated to the Christ's Holy Body.

- by webmaster 03/01/2009 @ 15:24

Sightseeing - The Casing of the Organ - by webmaster 03/01/2009 @ 15:10

Architecture, painting, carving: a casing by the rule book for the organ

During gothic times and the Renaissance there used to be a particular taste for the decorations on the façades of the organ: the painting enriches with color and the ornaments make the architectures of the times less austere.

Stefano di Venezia was in charge of the architecture of the organ of Valvasone and Girolamo di Venezia put the finishing touches. The two artisans didn�t have a particular project but they simply reproduced the pattern of already existing casings following the Venetian tradition.

The casing is on the right wall of the church and it almost reaches the truss of the roof. The façade is divided into 5 spans by 6 elegant columns. In these 5 compartments are the groups of the pipes. On top, the wide frieze is topped with a moulding.

The carving made by Girolamo di Venezia covers all the structures of façade. In the frieze of the trabeation, on a light blue background, there are some growling griffins whose tales cross in the middle in a mascaron. The capitals of the columns support some vases whose flowers draw a lacey picture on the architecture. Some vine-branches climb on the columns. Each of these carvings has been gilded by Tommaso da Udine and it contributes to give light and shade effects.

Concerning the external paintings, which can be seen when the organ is closed, these portray Manna from Heaven. The internal paintings represent The Sacrifice of Isaac and The Sacrifice of Melchizedek. Giovanni Antonio da Pordenone started the paintings, but they were completed by Pomponio Amalteo after Pordenone�s death. The Sacrifice of Isaac is the subject in which is more recognizable the style of Pordenone; while in the other paintings is evident the presence of Amalteo, whose figures are slack. In Manna from Heaven, the bowed figures and the background on the left are attributed to Pordenone.

In the five panels of the balcony we can notice a greater skill by Amalteo. Going from left to right the paintings represent: The Marriage Feast at Cana, The Merchants Driven from the Temple, Probatica Piscina, The Multiplication of the Loaves, The Conversion of St. Mary Magdalene.

Amalteo made also the decorative frieze representing masks, imaginary animals, cornucopias, trophies and sixteenth-century grotesque decorations.