| Municipality of Zuglio
|
|
Pop.: 641
Area: 8,31 sq. km, 429 m a.s.l.
Neighbourhoods: Fielis, Formeaso, Sezza
Town Hall: V. Giulio Cesare, 1 - 33020 Zuglio
Phone.: 0433.92045 Fax: 0433.929091
www.comune.zuglio.ud.it
|
|
|
Zuglio is the ancient Iulium
Carnicum, the Roman city
founded a few dozen years before
the Christian era to protect the busy
via Iulia Augusta leading to the
Noricum. Now simply a small province town
(though it was also an Episcopal see), Zuglio
still preserves the traces of its past splendour
in the remains of the forum, an important
work of Vitruvian dimensions (m 38,5x75),
surrounded by porticoes with slender
columns, ten on the shorter side, twenty-four
on the longer. North of the forum there used
to be a temple, while at the opposite end was
a two-floor basilica. Also the remains of the
baths and of a few houses were brought to
light, confirming the city structure that Iulium
Carnicum, a rich and active market place,
had at the time. What its urban plan was like
is still of uncertain definition, however, both
as for its perimeter (the city was probably
surrounded by walls) and for the street
network and the location of many buildings.
Most findings brought to light through the
centuries (including an exquisite bronze
portrait) were taken to the Museum of
Cividale, while others are exhibited in
|
 |
the recently arrayed Civic Archaeological
Museum housed in the 17th-century Palazzo
Tommasi Leschiutta. Dominating the town
and the valley from above is the Gothic
church of S. Pietro di Carnia, reached by a
smooth road (the last stretch must be covered
on foot) winding among the luxurious
vegetation, every now and
then offering enchanting
views of the surrounding
Alpine landscape.
Mentioned in
documents since the 12th century (although a
document of 808 already mentioned a religious
building in the place), the church was mostly
built in
|
|
1312 and rebuilt in the first thirty
years of the 16th century. Inside, several
works of art are remarkable, as the large
Gothic wooden polyptych with sumptuous
pinnacled crowning that was carved, painted
and gilded by Domenico da Tolmezzo in
1481-1484. It holds eighteen statues in as
many niches, arranged on three levels: four
busts of Fathers of the Church in the lower
level, an imposing St. Peter wearing
pontifical robes surrounded by six Apostles in
the central level, and the Virgin with Child
and more Apostles in the top level.
Unfortunately, about twenty years ago, the
major fourteen statues were stolen, being
recently replaced with faithful replicas by
Michele Moro from Sutrio. Also the frescoes
executed by Giulio Urbanis in 1582 are
remarkable in the same church, portraying
Evangelists, Prophets, Fathers of the Church
|
|
and scenes from the Gospels. Every year, on
Ascension Day, the ritual of the kissing of the
crosses takes place in the church, a centuryold
peculiar rite in which the crosses of many
Carnic churches are decked with flags and
taken to pay homage to the cross of the
mother church bowing to it in a symbolic
kiss. The triumph of colourful ribbons, white
and red and deep blue, flapping and fluttering
around in the crisp spring air, makes it a
joyful event. In the church of
S. Maria in Monte below, dating
from the 15th century but
remodelled in 1715, there are still
frescoes by Giulio Urbanis (1582)
and a quite good wooden triptych
of Giovanni Martini's school
(ca. 1537). The churches of
Formeaso, Fielis and Sezza
contain good paintings by Nicola
Grassi, who was born in Formeaso
in 1682. Remarkable for their
good patterns, the rich colour, the
high technical skill in trait and the
enticing settings are the paintings
in Sezza, portraying Jacob and the
rods and Rebecca at the well
(ca. 1733), both subjects the
Carnic painter loved and often
used in his works.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
