Located at the base of the Carnian and Giulian Alps is an area known as Alto Friuli. Three of the most noteworthy towns here are Venzone, Bordano, and Gemona del Friuli.
Venzone
Driving north from Udine, you will find a charming, medieval-walled city—the only one in Friuli—situated unexpectedly at the side of the highway. In Roman times, Venzone was an important post along the ancient Via Giulia Augusta, the last bit of civilization before entering the rough territory of Carnia. Although the town was partially rebuilt following the 1976 earthquakes that devastated its Duomo, Venzone retains much of its medieval character. Stark, gray stone buildings and cobbled streets blend with the surrounding rocky mountains, while an imposing double wall serves to fortify the town against the incursions of contemporary life.
Across from the pointed campanile of Venzone’s Duomo sits the 13th-century Cappella Cimiteriale di San Michele. This tiny, round crypt houses the result of a peculiar natural phenomenon: corpses mummified by a rare parasitic mold that covered the bodies and blocked decomposition. While the exact age of the mummies has not been determined, the oldest—named Gobbo, meaning “hunchback”—was discovered in 1647 during construction work on the Duomo. Twenty-one mummies were originally uncovered, although only fifteen were salvaged intact from the ruins of the 1976 earthquakes. Five are currently on display, including Gobbo, a mother and daughter, and two noblemen.
Every October, Venzone hosts the annual Festa della Zucca. Although pumpkins may be the most familiar squash, gourds of all shapes, colors, and sizes are featured in this festival of food, art, music, and dancing. Each year, a contest awards prizes for the largest, heaviest, longest, most beautiful, and most unusual squash. In addition, children participate in a pumpkin-carving contest, while chefs demonstrate their skill in carving intricate floral designs.
The Festa della Zucca not only celebrates the pumpkin, but also transports Venzone back in time. Public squares are illuminated by torches, townspeople dress in medieval costume, and jugglers and fire-eaters perform in the streets. Delegations from Austria, Germany, and Slovenia are presented, and following an ancient Austrian ceremony, the people elect an honorary “Archduke of Pumpkins.” Most importantly, the town’s taverns and restaurants celebrate the squash with special tasting-menus that include dishes such as pumpkin soup, frico con la zucca, gnocchi di zucca, puréed squash, and pumpkin cake.
Bordano
The town of Bordano is home to the largest tropical butterfly garden in Europe, the Casa delle Farfalle. The microclimate of nearby Monte San Simeone has attracted over 650 native species of butterflies—550 of which are nocturnal—making this town the ideal location for entomological studies.
Inside the Casa delle Farfalle, three greenhouses contain over 400 species of butterflies from Africa, the Amazon, and Indo-Australia. The butterflies are free to fly, surrounded by exotic vegetation in a miniature rainforest setting of vines, rare palms, and colorful orchids. The air is damp, filled with the echoes of mist and fluttering wings. Indigenous birds, reptiles, fish, and other insects complete the realistic ecosystem.
Bordano pays tribute to its butterflies in yet another way. Throughout the town and the neighboring hamlet of Interneppo, artists have decorated houses and public buildings with butterfly murals, transforming the streets into a kaleidoscope of color.
Gemona del Friuli
No one living in Friuli will ever forget the evening of May 6, 1976. For fifty-four seconds, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook the region, killing nearly one thousand people and destroying over four thousand homes. Peaceful Gemona del Friuli, comfortably nestled in the foothills of Monte Chiampon, was at the epicenter of this terrible disaster. People still talk of the unreal stillness that followed the quake, the profound darkness and layers of dust that settled upon the town during the moments after the earth stopped trembling.
Reconstruction was just beginning when, in September of the same year, a second strong earthquake struck the town. One of Gemona’s great architectural treasures, the Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta, suffered major damage during both quakes. Ten years of skillful restoration have left the 164-foot-high bell tower, the central rose window, and the 23-foot-high stone relief of Saint Christopher as good as new, but observant visitors may notice that the columns inside the nave are still leaning.
After twenty-five years, the task of rebuilding Gemona was finally completed. Today, the medieval town center appears as unsoiled as a Hollywood movie set with its spotless sidewalks, immaculately clean streets, and freshly painted buildings. But if you wander long enough, you will likely stumble upon some rubble left untouched, a reminder of that fateful spring evening.