| Municipality of Gemona del Friuli
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Pop.: 11,040
Area: 52,26 sq. km, 272 m a.s.l.
Neighbourhoods: Campagnola, Campolessi, Godo,
Maniaglia, Ospedaletto, Piovega, Taboga, Stalis
Town Hall: Piazza del Municipio, 1 - 33013 Gemona del Friuli
Phone.: 0432.973211 Fax: 0432.971090
www.gemonaweb.it
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One of the historic cities of
Friuli, located along the
ancient busy road that
from Aquileia led to the Noricum,
around the year 1000 it was
mentioned by Paolo Diacono as already
having its statute, ruled by a mandatary
captain by the Patriarch of Aquileia
provided with executive power and an
elected council. It was so important that the
Magnifica Communitas Terrae Glemonae
ranked third in the "Parliament of the Friuli
Homeland". At the moment of its greatest
splendour, the imposing duomo was
erected (1290-1337) by sculptor-architect
master Giovanni. It underwent remodelling
and enlargements through the centuries,
until it acquired a new visual dimension in
the façade in the 1800s through responds.
Seriously damaged during the 1976
earthquake, the duomo was saved by
careful restoration. A strong wall above
protects it from the landslides of Mount
Glemine and offers not only the starting
point for the city's defensive structure but
also the foundations for the campanile
(1341-1369), destroyed by the earthquake
and rebuilt "stone upon stone". The duomo
has a salient façade with three rose
windows, the central one of which by
master Buzeta (1334-36) is formed by two
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levels of radial small pilasters and two
rings of interwoven arches, all enclosed in
a decorative motif with vine branches.
Below the string-course moulding, the
original gallery with trefoil arches housesa
attribuite a maestro
nine statues portraying scenes of the
Epiphany attributed to master Giovanni
Griglio, who is also the author of the
gigantic statue of St. Christopher
(seven metres high). Numerous works of
art decorate the duomo interior: a
9th-10th-century baptismal font with basreliefs
derived from a Roman funerary altar
of the 1st-2nd centuries AD; paintings by
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masters of Friulian school from the
16th to the 18th century; organ case doors
with a Vision of Ezekiel, the Rape of Elias
and Assumption of the Virgin (1575) bye, affreschi della
metà del Trecento del
G. B. Grassi; a remarkable
wooden altarpiece by
Andrea Moranzone dated
1391, with thirty-three
episodes from the
Testaments in bas-relief. In
St. Michael's sacellum are
mid-14th-century frescoes
by Nicolò di Giacomo from
Gemona. In the former
parsonage (Canonica) the
Treasure of the duomo is
kept, including exquisite
pieces of jewellery (among
which the
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famous
monstrance by Nicolò
Lionello, 1434), seven
illuminated codes dating
form the 14th century, the
baptismal books - the most
ancient in Europe - on
which people baptized in
Gemona have been
registered since 1379, and
liturgical fittings. The
buildings fronting onto the
picturesque via Bini leading
to the duomo were all
restored, in particular in the
facades and typical architectural features,
so that the street still retains its old
original aspect with porticoes winding and
buildings close to each other, provided
with ancient portals and decorated (as in
the case of Casa Antonelli) with interesting
fragments of ancient frescoes. The Town
Hall, built in 1502 by Bartolomeo de
Caprileis called Boton, shows typical
patterns of Venetian architecture with
strong Lombard influences (three large
arches on the ground-floor loggia and a
small balcony on the upper floor).
Destroyed and never rebuilt is the church
of S. Maria delle Grazie: the numerous
paintings it contained were moved to the...
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The pleasant hilly area of Friuli, the
strip of land running from Gemona to
San Daniele almost to reach the suburbs
of Udine, has always been, through the
centuries, subject to earthquakes: suffice
it to mention the appalling
earthquakes of 1348
(also mentioned by
the Florentine historian
Filippo Villani), of
1511 (that halfdestroyed
Udine...go
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