| Municipality of Cormons
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Pop.: 7,473
Area: 34,67 sq. km, 56 m a.s.l.
Neighbourhoods: Brazzano, Borgnano, Giassico
Town Hall: Piazza XXIV Maggio, 22 - 34071 Cormons
Phone.: 0481.637103 Fax: 0481.637112
www.comune.cormons.go.it
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Located on the
southern border
of the Collio area,
along the so-called
-road of wine and
cherries-, Cormons is the
largest centre of the Friuli
part of Gorizia province, on
the left bank of River Isonzo.
Of Celtic origins, its strategic
geographic position gave it a
crucial defensive role (limes)
from Roman to medieval
times. Under Lombard rule,
between 628 and 737, it was
the seat of a castrum where
the schismatic Patriarchs of
Aquileia found shelter during
their opposition to
the Orthodox and
pro-Byzantium
Patriarchs who
instead had
their residence
in the Grado
castrum.
The town was
long the object
of disputes with
Venice, who
had control over
Cormons
straddling the 15th
and 16th centuries,
until in 1521 the
town was assigned to the
Hapsburg Empire, under
which it remained until the
Great War. Its important
history is witnessed by several
monuments. An impressive
staircase leads to the Duomo
dedicated to S. Adalberto, a
large 18th-century building
raised on the site of a 13thcentury
chapel. Its front,
preceded by a grand staircase,
is divided into three sections
by pilasters and decorated
with statues in niches, the tall
octagonal bell tower adjacent
the apse. Inside, the single
nave is
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decorated with 19thcentury
paintings by Tominz
and a beautiful 18th-century
altar. The adjoining 'Cjase da
Plêf Antighe' houses the small
Museum of the Duomo,
exhibiting documents, relics
and various pieces of sacred
art. The nearby Piazza XXVI
Maggio is flanked by the
elongated late-Baroque front
of Palazzo Locatelli
(1748-89), the seat of the
Town Hall, in which a Civic
Museum dedicated to the
history of the territory is
being prepared. Many other
lovely 18th-century buildings
grace the central via
Matteotti: Palazzo
Waiz-Del Mestri, in which
the living
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requirements of a noble
family are happily combined
with those of agricultural
activities; the Church of
Sta. Caterina (better known
as the Sanctuary of the
Mystic Rose), built in 1768-
79 with the typical front
flanked with small bell
towers with their onionshaped
cupolas. In the
neighbourhood, several small
churches can be found, built
within the ancient cente,
namely rural rudimental
defensive systems, such as
the 14th-century church of
Sta. Maria (or Sta. Apollonia),
whose interior is richly
decorated with 16th-century
frescoes, while older frescoes
dating to the 14th and 15th
centuries are found in the
church of S. Giovanni,
rebuilt in the
1300s on the site
of a church
already existing
in 1093. An
excursion on
Mount Quarin
will afford a
lovely view of the
town it overlooks,
while taking the
tourist to the
remains (the
keep)
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of the old
Castle and to the
Church of Beata
Vergine del
Soccorso (1636),
with its richly
decorated 17thcentury
wooden
altar. In the
neighbourhood of Brazzano,
a wine-producing centre
made of smaller, widespread
units, the Parish Church of
S. Lorenzo (1763) and the
16th-century Church of San
Rocco, with its late-Gothic
apse, are worth a visit, as
well as the Church of San
Giorgio, located on a hill
where a castle used to be
whose only remains (parts of
the crenellated tower) are
incorporated in the bell
tower: inside, the
monumental wooden altar
richly sculpted by Girolamo
Ridolfi (1563) may be seen.
The typical rural
neighbourhood of Giassico
(where the probably 14thcentury
Church of
S. Stefano, with its
terracotta-tile Gothic portal,
is) has acquired renown
lately thanks to the annual
-Festival of the Central
European Peoples-, a
nostalgic-folklore event held
on 18 August, the birthday
of Austrian Emperor
Franz Joseph.
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Among the smallest in Italy, Gorizia
province is a unique casket of natural,
historical and cultural beauty, benefiting
from mild climate most
of the year, a place
where, to the
north, the hilly
landscape
of the
Collio area - frequently
terraced and world
renown for its winesopens
to Europe through
the valleys of the Isonzo
and Vipacco Rivers. The
central-eastern part of the
province is of karst...go
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