Renaissance routes (R019)

During the Renaissance, artists from Friuli and beyond the Alps created sculptural works and frescoes of great artistic value in the area surrounding Spilimbergo: some of the most famous of these were the painters Pordenone, Pomponio Amalteo, Giandomenico da Tolmezzo, and the stone mason Pilacorte, to name but a few. The villages crossed by the route feature paintings, frescoes, or buildings dating back to the early 16th century. Churches are the places where the works can be admired and, in some cases, are also visible from the outside. The premises are open to the public for religious celebrations, during local events, or by appointment by contacting the local tourist offices or arranging for a local guide to guide you along the route and organise site access.

In Spilimbergo, the Renaissance has left its permanent presence throughout the historic centre: the cathedral, the castle, the public buildings, the exterior walls of the bourgeois houses... everything is colour and history! The churches in the hamlets of Vacile and Gaio preserve early works by Pordenone, and the same is also true in the two churches of Valeriano. On the hills of Castelnovo del Friuli, in the hamlet of Costa, is the 16th-century Villa Sulis which contains a collection of decorated local ceramics made by a local kiln in the 16th-17th centuries. In Travesio, in the ancient Pieve di San Pietro, the fresco in the apse is one of Pordenone's best works. Meanwhile, in the church of Lestans visitors will discover the mannerist frescoes of his artistic successor, Pomponio Amalteo.