Spilimbergo (german: Spengenberg; fur, Spilimberc or ) 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 ...

'' with a population of 11,961, located in the

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 ...

region, in northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, on the right side 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 ...

river. The town is notable as the home of the Mosaic School of Friuli (''Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli''), which was founded in 1922 and has students from all over the world.

History

Spilimbergo's history begins around the

11th century The 11th century is the period from 1001 ( MI) through 1100 ( MC) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the 1st century of the 2nd millennium. In the history of Europe, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages. ...

, when the Spengenberg counts arrived from Carinthia and settled down in the area, acting as the vassals of the

bishop of Aquileia A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. The name of the town derives from the ''castrum de Spengenberg'' (castle of the Spengenberg). However, human settlement had already been present for a long time. In the

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) 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 consolidate territ ...

Gradisca Gradisca d'Isonzo ( fur, Gardiscja or ''Gardiscje'', sl, Gradišče ob Soči, archaic german: Gradis am Sontig) is a town and ''comune'' of the Province of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, north-eastern Italy. The lawyer, linguist, philologist Ph ...

, various remains of a ''castelliere'' have been discovered, and they are speculated to date back to the Roman era. Here there existed a road that crossed the

river and stretched from

Sacile Sacile (; vec, Sathìl ; Liventina: ; Western Friulian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pordenone, in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy. It is known as the "Garden of the '' Serenissima''" after the many pala ...

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 ...

. In the centuries following the settlement of the Spengenberg, Spilimbergo developed both as a military stronghold and as the centre of a commercial network. Thanks to the arrival of many "foreigners", such as Lombard, Tuscan, and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

people, there had been a considerable demographic and urban growth. Following the instructions by count Walterpertoldo II, in

1284 Year 1284 ( MCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Aragonese Crusade: The first French armies under King Philip III ( the Bold) and hi ...

the construction of the ''Duomo Arcipretale di Santa Maria Maggiore'' began, which is considered one of the finest romanesque-gothic monuments from the

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giul ...

region. Other important buildings from the same period are ''il palazzo del Daziario'' (the palace of the Tolls), ''la casa del Capitano'' (the house of the Captain), and ''la Loggia'' (where the town hall is currently located). In

1326 Year 1326 ( MCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * January 21 – The foundation of Oriel College, the University of Oxford's fift ...

, thanks to the counts Bregonia and Bartolomeo, Spilimbergo's jurisdiction obtained its own legislative body, the Statute of the Land of Spilimbergo (''Statuto della Terra di Spilimbergo''). In

1420 Year 1420 ( MCDXX) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * March – The Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Mosque in Didymoteicho is inaugurated. * May 21 &n ...

the town passed onto the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia ...

, following the same fate as the

Patria del Friuli The Patria del Friuli ( la, Patria Fori Iulii, fur, Patrie dal Friûl) was the territory under the temporal rule of the Patriarch of Aquileia and one of the ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1420, the Republic of Venice acquir ...

. The

War of the League of Cambrai The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fough ...

struck the region particularly, turning it into the centre of the conflict between the pro-imperial ( Strumieri) and the pro-venetian factions ( Zamberlani). Despite everything, Spilimbergo in the following years carried on with its period of economic prosperity, which had an impact on its cultural plane too. During this period the castle was rebuilt in the style of the Renaissance, and various works of art were created by renowned artists such as Giovanni Antonio Pilacorte,

il Pordenone Pordenone, Il Pordenone in Italian, is the byname of Giovanni Antonio de’ Sacchis (c. 1484 – 14 January 1539), an Italian Mannerist painter, loosely of the Venetian school. Vasari, his main biographer, wrongly identifies him as Giovanni ...

, Pomponio Amalteo, Gasparo Narvesa, and

Irene di Spilimbergo Irene di Spilimbergo (17 October 1538 - 17 December 1559) was an Italian Renaissance painter and poet. Biography She is mostly known for an effusive volume of poetic elegies published two years after her death by Dionigi Atanagi and containing ...

. In the literary field Gian Domenico Cancianini, Eusebio Stella, and Bernardino Partenio stood out, with the latter being the founder of an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

for the study of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

languages. The contribution by some active bourgeois families — like the Balzaro, the Monaco, the Stella, the Cisternini, the Fannio, and the Santorini — is also noteworthy.

Main sights

*City walls and towers *Cathedral (13th century) *Castle, attested in 1120 but destroyed by a fire in 1511

People

* Giovanni Battista Cavedalis *

*Matteo Spilimbergo

References

External links

Spilimbergo old postcards

Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli
- Mosaic School
Turismo on line - Friuli-Venezia Giulia
- About Spilimbergo Cities and towns in Friuli-Venezia Giulia {{FriuliVeneziaGiulia-geo-stub