The Castle of Giacomo Ceconi: a motorbike trip in Val d'Arzino
The first of May is a day for barbecues and picnics. My husband and I instead decided with two motorcyclist friends to ride our bike and head towards Pielungo di Vito d’Asio, a small village in the province of Pordenone. Our destination was a castle, built between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century by Count Giacomo Ceconi in this beautiful valley formed by the river Arzino.
Who was Giacomo Ceconi? Born in 1833 into a family of humble origins, he moved to Trieste at the age of eighteen to work as a labourer and, by attending evening school, was able to become a construction assistant and then an entrepreneur, winning important contracts in 1857 and 1887 in the construction of railway works for the Hapsburg Empire. In 1879, he was granted Austrian citizenship and later the title of count.
So, with the idea of providing himself with a residence appropriate to his title, he decided to build a beautiful villa in neo-Gothic style in his native village, surrounded by a large park and the forests of Pielungo. The ample parking in front and the free entrance to the perfectly maintained park, enable visitors to enjoy a wonderful view, with the castle in the foreground surrounded by the Carnic and Julian Alps.
You can get there by following the many signposts that appear from Pinzano to the Tagliamento onwards, following the Provincial Road 1, which is fun to travel by motorbike and a draw also for many cyclists for its beautiful bends. Of course, after admiring the castle you cannot help but come back along a part of the SP1 towards Tolmezzo and stop along the Arzino torrent, which in this stretch offers beautiful views of waterfalls and gorges carved into the rock.