Fusine in Valromana ( or ; ;dom.it
/ref>

Friulian Friulian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Friuli region in northeast Italy. * Sometimes, by improper extension, something of, from, or related to the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions o ...

: ''Fusinis'') is a ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'' (fractional parish) of the ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' of

Tarvisio Tarvisio ( German and ; ) is a (municipality) in the Regional Decentralization Entity of Udine, in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Geography The town is in the Canal Valley (''Val Canale'') between the Carnic Alps and Ka ...

in the

Province of Udine The province of Udine (; ; ; ; ) was a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia, with the capital in the city of Udine. Abolished on 30 September 2017, it was reestablished in 2019 as the Re ...

, in the autonomous

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

region of northeastern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Name

The locality takes its name from the Slovene (''Fužine'') and Friulian (''Fusinis'') term for the historic

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

site. The Italian name is a slight modification from the Friulan, with "in Valromana" added, referring to an adjacent valley—which, however, is located a fair way off. The alternate Slovene denotation ''Bela Peč'', like the German name ''Weißenfels'', , refers to a historic castle erected by the

Counts of Celje The Counts of Celje () or the Counts of Cilli (; ) were the most influential late medieval noble dynasty on the territory of present-day Slovenia. Risen as vassals of the Habsburg dukes of Styria in the early 14th century, they ruled the County ...

, owners of the area between 1418 and 1456, in the early 15th century.

Geography

2013-08-17 Lago di Fusine superiore -hu- A 4547

The hamlet is located in the western

Julian Alps The Julian Alps (, , , , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretches from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large part of the Julian Alps is inclu ...

, about east of the Tarvisio town centre and close to the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

where the borders of

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and Italy meet. It is a stop on Highway SS 54, which leads from Tarvisio to the Slovenian border at the Fusine Saddle, continued by Slovenian Highway 202 leading via

Rateče Rateče (; , ) is a village in the Municipality of Kranjska Gora, in the far northwest corner of Slovenia. It is located in the upper part of the Upper Sava Valley, between the Sava Dolinka and Ziljica rivers, a tributary of the Drava. Further ...

Podkoren Podkoren (, ) is a village in the Municipality of Kranjska Gora, in the northwestern Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. Geography Podkoren is located directly beneath the Wurzen Pass ("Koren" in Slovene), which lends its name to the settlement ...

and further down to the town of

Kranjska Gora Kranjska Gora (; ) is a town in northwestern Slovenia, on the Sava Dolinka River in the Upper Carniola region, close to the Austrian and Italy, Italian borders. It is the seat of the Municipality of Kranjska Gora. The tripoint between Austria, It ...

in the upper

Sava The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...

(

Sava Dolinka The Sava Dolinka is a headwater of the Sava River in northwestern Slovenia. The long Sava Dolinka starts as Nadiža Creek in the Planica Valley under Mount Zadnja Ponca in the Julian Alps, at an elevation of 1222 m, close to the Italian border ...

) Valley. The mountains and lakes in the vicinity of Fusine in Valromana are popular destinations for mountaineers and trekkers. Upper and Lower Lakes Fusine fed by artesian springs on the north face of the high

Mangart Mangart or Mangrt is a mountain in the Julian Alps, located on the border between Italy and Slovenia. With an elevation of , it is the List of mountains in Slovenia, fourth-highest peak in Slovenia, after Triglav, Škrlatica and Mali Triglav. It ...

peak attract many tourists. The area immediately surrounding both lakes is protected by scenic Lake Fusine Nature Park (), which covers 45 hectares. The meadows and pastures above the lake belong to the Fusine in Valromana pasture cooperative. This area includes the entire valley with about 180 hectares of alpine land and 200 hectares of forest. Lower Lake Fusine

History

Tarvisio Fusine in Valromana church 31052008 02

A first

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

settlement was probably established about 1320, when the area was part of the

March of Carniola March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 ...

under the rule of the

House of Gorizia The House of Gorizia, also called the Meinhardiner, were a comital, princely and ducal dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire. Named after Gorizia Castle in Gorizia (now in Italy, on the border with Slovenia), they were originally "advocates" (''Vog ...

. Unlike the neighbouring villages to the west, this easternmost part of the Canale Valley was not included in the Carinthian possessions of the Prince-Bishops of Bamberg, granted to them by King

Henry II of Germany Henry II (; ; ; 6 May 973 – 13 July 1024 AD), also known as Saint Henry, Order of Saint Benedict, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor ("Romanorum Imperator") from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler of the Ottonian dy ...

in 1007, but belonged to the

Counts of Ortenburg The Counts of Ortenburg () were a comital family in the mediaeval Duchy of Carinthia. Though they had roots in Bavarian nobility, an affiliation with the Imperial Counts of Ortenburg, a branch line of the Rhenish Franconian House of Sponheim, ...

and was under the suzerainty of the

Landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

s, later Dukes of Carniola. With the extinction of the Ortenburg Counts, the territory was inherited by the mighty

House of Celje The Counts of Celje () or the Counts of Cilli (; ) were the most influential late medieval noble dynasty on the territory of present-day Slovenia. Risen as vassals of the Habsburg dukes of Styria in the early 14th century, they ruled the County ...

. In 1404, the reigning Ortenburg count Frederick III gave one Consuran Bartholomew the right to build a forge, which established the

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

industry and promoted the settlement of German-speaking workers. Several more forges were operating within the village by 1456 when cooperation agreements were made with the Austrian

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...

, which had inherited the estates from the last count of Celje, Ulrich II. The Lordship of Weißenfels remained the northwesternmost part of the Habsburg

Duchy of Carniola The Duchy of Carniola (, , ) was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire, established under House of Habsburg, Habsburg rule on the territory of the former East Frankish March of Carniola in 1364. A hereditary land of the Habsburg monarc ...

, from 1804 under the control of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

until the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In October 1918, the predominantly German-speaking municipality of Weißenfels was awarded to

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

. In exchange, the Slovene-speaking municipality of Jezersko () was awarded to the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

. According to the terms of the 1919

Treaty of Saint-Germain A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, conventi ...

, however, Weißenfels was assigned to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

and was renamed Fusine. In 1862 the German firm Göppinger & Co. patented a method of making steel chains without welds. The manufacturing of chain and other hardware items in Fusine in Valromana led the industrial company to become a "global player". A successful Italian foundry founded by Guido Segre after the First World War grew to have 300 employees by 1925. In 1976 the company reached a peak of 600 employees, and in 1995, the company employed about 300 people. In 1999, Pewag, Weissenfels, and KWB (Kettenwerk Brückl), three competing firms, combined under one roof, creating the company Pewag Weißenfels International GmbH.

Name

Geography

History

References

Further reading