Santa Maria la Longa is a small rural village
in the heart of the Friulian plain, halfway between
Udine and
Palmanova on Road SR352. During the Great War, it was the perfect resting place for the troops in the
rear line, as it was not too close to the front but far enough from the Austro-Hungarian long-distance weapon attacks. This is why here, between 1915 and 1917, several barracks were built and other facilities were converted to military use, such as camp hospitals and command posts.
Among the soldiers who enjoyed a break in Santa Maria were also Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giuseppe Ungaretti; during the winter of 1917, the latter wrote three pomes here: "Dormire", "Solitudine" and the famous "Mattino", a masterpiece of Hermeticism consisting of just 2 words written on 26th January 1917: "I am enlightened with immense" ("M'illumino d'immenso").
The local Municipal Administration inaugurated a monument dedicated to Ungaretti, created by Friulian sculptor Franco Maschio, on the occasion of the 88th-Anniversary of his poem. The statue, installed in the central Julia Division Square (Piazza Divisione Julia), represents a standing and arched body. Nearby, three karstic stones are engraved with three poems by Ungaretti.
