A trip to Venzone, the “town of whips”

Slow Tour

29 January 2019

Slow Tour

A trip to Venzone, the “town of whips”

On 20th January of this year, the “Borghi più belli d’Italia” in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, including Venzone, organised an event and guided tours to support a charity aimed at raising funds for the mountains of the Friuli region, which were hard hit by bad weather last October.
We gladly took part in a guided tour to learn more about Venzone, discovering the secrets and curiosities that only an expert can tell you!

Venzone is an ancient fortified town dating back to 1300, built in medieval times. In 1976, the town was almost completely destroyed by the earthquake, however, it was relentlessly rebuilt, stone after stone, as it once was.
For this reason it is considered one of the most extraordinary examples of architectural and artistic restoration.

The name Venzone, mentioned for the first time as Albiciones, later became Aventinone, Avenzon, Avenzone and then Venzone. The place name comes from “av-au” – “flusslauf” (river) and therefore from the name of the river Venzonassa.
In German it is called Peuscheldorf, which literally means “town of the whips”, recalling the whips that were once used in horse-drawn carriages. Venzone has always been a town that people pass through. In 1077, it became part of the Patriarchate of Aquileia and from then onwards it became important for controlling trade: it was a mandatory transit point and the medieval town acted as a “customs” and warehouse.

This explains why its roads are so wide: they had to facilitate the passage of carriages that continuously entered the fortified town to deposit their goods there. It is interesting to note that every house has two large doors leading to an inner courtyard: one was used as an entrance and the other as an exit for carriages, which would not have had enough space for manoeuvring in the courtyard, where the goods were located.
You could only enter Venzone by paying the so-called “gabella”. The traffic entering the town was well-controlled: access was through 4 gates situated along the boundary wall and only from 5am - 5pm. Two clocks can be seen on the tower of the Palazzo Comunale: one marks 24 hours (the time of day) and the other 12 hours (Venzone time, i.e. from 5am - 5pm).

Venzone is also well-known for its “Festa della Zucca” (Pumpkin Festival), where a medieval historical re-enactment takes place at the end of October every year. The festival is inspired by the ancient legend of the golden pumpkin, according to which the people of Venzone are called “Cogoçârs”, even today.
In 1965, Venzone was declared a National Monument, as it is the only 14th century fortified town in the region, and later one of the most extraordinary examples of architectural and artistic restoration.
In Venzone and the surrounding area, many scenes have been shot for famous films including “Farewell to Arms” by John Huston and Charles Vidor (1957) and “The Great War” by Mario Monicelli (1959).