| Municipality of Pordenone
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Pop.: 48.599
Area: 38,23 sq. km, 24 m a.s.l.
Neighbourhoods: Borgomeduna, Roraigrande, Torre,
Vallenoncello, Villanova
Town Hall: - 33170 Pordenone
Phone.: 0434.520974 Fax: 0434.241680
www.comune.pordenone.it
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Related links:
Duomo of San Marco
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Since its foundation, the city of
Pordenone has always had a very
close relation with River Noncello,
along whose branch the remains of
the already mentioned Roman villa
of Torre were found. Some exquisite fresco
fragments portraying battle scenes- probably
among Amazons- which are among the finest
examples of Roman fresco painting in
northern Italy, were found here and are
exhibited in the Provincial Archaeological
Museum housed inside the castle of the
Ragogna counts at Torre (in the same building,
the Annunciation frescoed by Gianfrancesco
da Tolmezzo in the 1500s is notable
too).Therefore, it is from Torre that a visit of
the city should begin (without forgetting the
Church of SS. Ilario and Taziano, graced by
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an altarpiece by Pordenone, 1519-1521), or at
least from the river along which the city
developed in the Middle Ages, on a
longitudinal axis. From here, the historical
centre may be visited walking up the street
from the 16th-century Church of Santissima
Trinità, an exquisite
example of central plan church designed by I.
Marone and decorated with frescoes by
Calderari illustrating episodes from the Old
Testament. Then, crossing the bridge on the
Nocello that is commonly called 'the bridge
of Adam and Eve', visitors access Contrada
Maggiore
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from the site were the 'porta
furlana' used to be, the ancient gate that gave
access to the ring of walls from the south.
The first building on the right houses the
so-called 'Pordenone's cabinet' (not
visitable), with mythological frescoes by the
artist who was the local leading exponent of
Renaissance painting in the early decades of
the 16th century. Moving from Piazzetta
San Marco, leaving the Duomo on the
right, the street widens and the Town Hall and
Palazzo Ricchieri, the latter housing
the Civic Museum of Art, are offered to
view. The Town Hall is a 14th-century
building, with side turrets to which the
central body was added in
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1542, a
means used by the Venetians to give
visibility to their rule over the territory
(which was elsewhere entrusted to
St. Mark's lion). From the Town Hall
loggia, the panoramic view of Corso
Vittorio Emanuele II is enjoyed, the
long porticoed street which
constitutes, with Corso Garibaldi
and via Montereale,
the city's
backbone. Walking
northwards along this
street (towards
Piazzetta Cavour),
the most important
palaces built by
the local nobility
between the 14th and
the 18th centuries
may be seen, most of
which were decorated
with frescoes on the front,
first among all Palazzo
Mantica, whose allegorical
scenes were attributed to
Pordenone (early 16th
century), or Casa dei
Capitani, the Captains'
House, decorated with fake rustication.
Complex stone gargoyles decorate instead
the 17th-century façade of Palazzo Gregoris.
Turning right into Vicolo
dell'Ospedale Vecchio you end up at Piazza
della Motta, where the former
monastery of St. Francis is: now used for
exhibitions, the
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building preserves 14th- to
17th-century frescoes in the cloister and
church. Just a few steps away is the Church
of Santa Maria degli Angeli (popularly
called del Cristo), which preserves
inside a considerable number of 14thcentury
fresco fragments, a painting of
Santa Barbara by Gianfrancesco da
Tolmezzo (1500 ca.) and the early 15thcentury
wooden Crucifix that gives the
church its popular name. Walking back
on the Corso, the front of the former
Teatro della Concordia by G.B. Bassi
(1826-1831) can be seen; walking on
northwards, Piazzetta Cavour
leads into Corso Garibaldi, on
whose initial stretch Palazzo
Pera and Palazzo
Sbrojavacca
front, the latter being
the seat of the
Provincial Board,
decorated inside with
18th-century stuccoes
and frescoes, though
the buildings date back
to at least the early 16th
century, according to the
recently discovered façade
frescoes (among which fragments
of a confraternity's
procession attributed to
Gianfrancesco da Tolmezzo...
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The landscape surrounding
Pordenone is lively and varied,
changing from the ups and downs of
the Pedemontana hills and the green
area of Polcenigo to the expanse
of cultivated and clay-coloured fields
of the southern area.
The geographic, historical
and cultural
development of
the whole territory
has
been
marked by go
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