Tolmezzo (; ; archaic or ) is a town and (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine, part of 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 north-eastern

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 ...

Geography

Tolmezzo is located at the foot of the Strabut Mountain, between 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. (I ...

River and the Bût stream. Nearby is the Mount Amariana, elevation . The commune also includes the five (boroughs) of Cadunea (Friulian: Cjadugnee), Caneva (Cjanive), Casanova (Cjasegnove), Fusea (Fusee), Illegio (Dieç), Imponzo (Dimponç).

History

The existence of Tolmezzo (called ''Tolmetium'') is first documented in the late 10th century, when it was part of the

Patriarchate of Aquileia The Patriarchate of Aquileia was an episcopal see and ecclesiastical province in northeastern Italy, originally centered in the ancient city of Aquileia, situated near the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It emerged in the 4th century as a m ...

, but it has been suggested that the town stemmed from a very ancient pre-Roman settlement. In Roman times, the area was crossed by one of the main Roman roads that connected Italy to what is now Austria. The city had a flourishing market and was defended by a line of walls with 18 towers and by the castle of the Patriarchs. In 1420, it was annexed to the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

, but its trades and industries did not suffer from the change, and the city maintained its privileges. In 1797, by the

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...

, it was handed over to 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 after a short Napoleonic rule, it was included in the client

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia (), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" (; ), was a constituent land (crown land) of the Austrian Empire from 1815 to 1866. It was created in 1815 by resolution of the Congress of Vienna in recogniti ...

. Tolmezzo became part of the newly-unified

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 ...

in 1866.

Main sights

*The Duomo (cathedral) *''Palazzo Campeis'' (late 18th century): Museum

References

External links

* (Map of Tolmezzo region). Cities and towns in Friuli-Venezia Giulia {{FriuliVeneziaGiulia-geo-stub