| Municipality of Paularo
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Pop.: 2,907
Area: 84,23 sq. km, 648 m a.s.l.
Neighbourhoods: Casaso, Chiaulis, Dierico, Misincinis,
Ravinis, Rio, Salino, Trelli, Villafuori, Villamezzo
Town Hall: P. Bernardino Nascimbeni, 16 - 33027 Paularo
Phone.: 0433.70026 Fax: 0433.70844
www.paularo.com
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Important prehistoric finds
recently discovered at Misincinis
support the presence of man in this
splendid valley since the remotest
times. In Paularo the parish church
of S. Vito, built by Domenico Schiavi in
1770-75 on the site of a former building and
enriched with a solemn pronaos giving the
church the neo-Classical trait Giovanni
Battista Bassi wanted (1850), contains in its
luminous interior frescoes by Antonio
Schiavi dated 1765: Assumption with
SS. Vito, Girolamo and Valentino, Nativity,
Adoration of the Magi, Melchizedek and
Abraham in the nave and Evangelists in
the presbytery. On the altars and in the
presbytery are paintings by Francesco
Pellizzotti from Paularo (1740-1818),
a follower of Nicola Grassi. In the
neighbourhood of Dierico, the church
of S. Maria Maggiore is the most
important monument in the whole valley,
as it preserves two remarkable works:
one is the cycle of frescoes executed in
1598 by Giulio Urbanis from S. Daniele
del Friuli on the walls and choir vault
with Apostles, Doctors of the Church,
Prophets, Women Saints, Holy Father and
Annunciation; the other is the wooden altar
carved, painted and gilded by Antonio
Tironi since 1522: divided on three levels,
it has four statues of Saints (SS. Apollonia,
Caterina, Barbara and Lucia) and the
Saviour in the top level and SS. Floriano,
Urbano Papa, Giorgio, Maurizio, Vito,
Leonardo, John the Baptist, Virgin with
Child, Peter and Michael on the other two
levels, all elegant and proportioned figures,
characterized by refined expressive traits
partly out of the typical
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patterns of local
sculpture. The frame is imposing, with quite
large pilasters (decorated with a fine
interweaving of flowers and leaves according
to the Lombard style) and solid trabeation. In
the church of S. Giovanni Battista at Trelli,
an 18th-century painting of St. Peter formerly
attributed to Nicola Grassi is instead the
work by Francesco Pellizzotti. In the church
of S. Caterina at Salino the side altar of
S. Antonio has been attributed to Girolamo
Comuzzo (17th cent.). Concerning civil
buildings, a very prestigious one in Paularo is
Palazzo Calice, built at the behest of
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Fabiano
Calice in 1591, probably representing the
most perfect architectural example in the
whole of Carnia, with wide arches on the
ground floor, two superimposed open
galleries with four full arches divided by
stone pilasters with modelled capitals: the
palazzo is a delightful surprise for those
coming down from Ligosullo and it is
enchanting for the sense of ethereal lightness
it conveys, which leads to thinking that
aesthetic taste only was at the origin of its
building - and not instead other functional
reasons. Other prestigious buildings are
Palazzo Mocenigo-Linussio-Fabiani
(18th century) most probably designed by
Domenico Schiavi, and Palazzo (or Castle)
Valesio Calice at Villafuori, a veritable
house-museum allowing
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visitors to retrace
the century-old history of Paularo and Carnia
through objects, furnishings, works of art,
etc. The Calice household, in fact, had
always been attentive to all artistic
expressions and many ethnographic and
artistic exhibits were donated to the
Tolmezzo Museum. Also the 18th-century
Casa Scala at Paularo has become the venue,
in recent years, of a small though
interesting museum called La Mozartina,
a peculiar private collection of
old and modern musical instruments.
However, natural beauties are not
lacking in the municipality: suffice it
to mention the Salino waterfalls,
often celebrated by 19th-century
painters, the Forra de Las Callas
in high Val Chiarṣ, that can be
walked through on a risky path
entirely excavated in the rock,
or the Piani di Lanza, reached
from the Cason di Lanza on
the road to Pontebba.
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Those who want to understand what
Carnia was like in the past centuries, the
customs of its inhabitants, their ways of
facing the difficulties of life in an often
hostile environment, their religious spirit,
their everyday life, those must not miss
the Museum of Tolmezzo,
where in so many years
of devout dedication
and research
the illustrious ...go
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