Pontebba ( fur, Ponteibe, german: Pontafel, sl, Tablja) is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

Geography

Pontebba, named after it, ponte meaning "bridge", is situated at the confluence of the Pontebbana creek and the Fella River, itself a tributary of the

Tagliamento The Tagliamento () is a braided river in north-east Italy, flowing from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea at a point between Trieste and Venice. The Tagliamento river is considered as the last morphologically intact river in the Alps. (Its c ...

. It is located about northwest of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

and about north of

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with ...

, near the border with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. As of 31 October 2020, Pontebba had a population of 1,344 and an area of .All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute Istat. The municipality contains the '' frazioni'' (subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Aupa, Loc. Casali Costa, Loc. Casali Graben, Loc. Frattis, Loc. Gamischen, Passo Pramollo, Loc. Piani, Pietratagliata, Lagleise San Leopoldo, Studena Alta, Studena Bassa Pontebba borders the following municipalities: Dogna in the south, Hermagor-Pressegger See (Austria) in the north, Malborghetto Valbruna in the east and Moggio Udinese in the west.

History

From the early 10th century onward, Pontebbana Creek formed the border between the March of Verona, the former Lombard Duchy of Friuli to the south, and the Bavarian March of Carinthia to the north. After the 1420 conquest of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, the settlement of Pontebba south of the creek belonged to the '' Domini di Terraferma'' of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. The corresponding settlement of ''Pontafel'' north of the bridge belonged to the Carinthian Canal Valley, an exclave held by the

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg, which was incorporated into the Inner Austrian territories of the Habsburg dynasty in 1759. It was only in 1874 that the

Telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

came to Pontafel. The opening of a k.k. State telegraph station with "limited daily services" took place at the same time as in other smaller places of the monarchy. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

according to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the border of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and ...

with the Republic of Austria was shifted up the Canal Valley north to the town of Tarvisio. The two settlements of Pontebba and Pontafel finally merged on 15 August 1924. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the rail line through the town was the target of heavy aerial bombardment by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

because it was used by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

to transport supplies to Italy. However, the aerial bombardment did not succeed in damaging the rail line, which is still in use today.

Sports

''Aquile Friuli-Venezia Giulia'', the region's flagship

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

team, plays its home games at the ''PalaVuerich'' arena in Pontebba and is affiliated with the local ice sports society ''Sport Ghiaccio Pontebba''. The team is a member of the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

and won the 2008 Italian Cup.

Transport

Pontebba can be reached via the ''A23'' autostrada, European route E55, running from Palmanova and the ''A4'' to Tarvisio and the Austrian A2 Süd Autobahn, as well as by the parallel ''Strada Statale 13 Pontebbana''. Here the ''Strade Provinciale 110'' to the Naßfeld Pass ( it, Passo di Pramollo) branches off. The Pontebba train station is at the new ''Pontebbana'' railway line from Udine to Tarvisio and the Austrian border. Opened in 2000 it replaces the old ''k.k. Staatsbahn Tarvis-Pontafel'' built in 1879.

Demographic evolution

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:455 height:303 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:5000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:200 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1861 text:1861 bar:1871 text:1871 bar:1881 text:1881 bar:1901 text:1901 bar:1911 text:1911 bar:1921 text:1921 bar:1931 text:1931 bar:1936 text:1936 bar:1951 text:1951 bar:1961 text:1961 bar:1971 text:1971 bar:1981 text:1981 bar:1991 text:1991 bar:2001 text:2001 bar:2011 text:2011 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1861 from: 0 till:0 bar:1871 from: 0 till:3114 bar:1881 from: 0 till:3457 bar:1901 from: 0 till:3829 bar:1911 from: 0 till:4591 bar:1921 from: 0 till:4121 bar:1931 from: 0 till:4022 bar:1936 from: 0 till:3703 bar:1951 from: 0 till:3931 bar:1961 from: 0 till:3561 bar:1971 from: 0 till:3013 bar:1981 from: 0 till:2502 bar:1991 from: 0 till:2206 bar:2001 from: 0 till:1768 bar:2011 from: 0 till:1503 PlotData= bar:1861 at:0 fontsize:XS text: ? shift:(-8,5) bar:1871 at:3114 fontsize:XS text: 3114 shift:(-8,5) bar:1881 at:3457 fontsize:XS text: 3457 shift:(-8,5) bar:1901 at:3829 fontsize:XS text: 3829 shift:(-8,5) bar:1911 at:4591 fontsize:XS text: 4591 shift:(-8,5) bar:1921 at:4121 fontsize:XS text: 4121 shift:(-8,5) bar:1931 at:4022 fontsize:XS text: 4022 shift:(-8,5) bar:1936 at:3703 fontsize:XS text: 3703 shift:(-8,5) bar:1951 at:3931 fontsize:XS text: 3931 shift:(-8,5) bar:1961 at:3561 fontsize:XS text: 3561 shift:(-8,5) bar:1971 at:3013 fontsize:XS text: 3013 shift:(-8,5) bar:1981 at:2502 fontsize:XS text: 2502 shift:(-8,5) bar:1991 at:2206 fontsize:XS text: 2206 shift:(-8,5) bar:2001 at:1768 fontsize:XS text: 1768 shift:(-8,5) bar:2011 at:1503 fontsize:XS text: 1503 shift:(-8,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from ISTAT

Notable residents

* Adele Faccio, politician *

Ernesto Lomasti Ernesto Luigi Lomasti (29 October 1959 – 12 June 1979) was an Italian mountaineer and alpino skier. He is regarded as one of the Italian pioneers of climbing as a sport. He died during training in the Valle d'Aosta, Arnad, in the local al ...

, mountaineer

References

External links

www.comune.pontebba.ud.it
{{authority control Cities and towns in Friuli-Venezia Giulia