Cordenons

Cordenons was mentioned for the first time in a diploma of the King of Italy Verengario I, on 5th May 897, date in which it was in the Curtis regia (royal yard) Naonis.

However, the term did not indicate a specific settlement but a larger territory that, at least from the Carolingian age or maybe Lombard age, must have been reserved to the royal or imperial authority.

The reason is easy to guess: until a century and a half ago, that is to say, until the long straight stretch of the SS 13 Pontebbana state road was traced out, the important road that from Pordenone and, therefore, from the Veneto and Po area, led to the Tagliamento, to central Friuli and to Austria passed through Cordenons.

Several are the Roman finds in the area of the Meduna and of the Cellina (one, in particular, provides unmistakable evidence of the existence of a school in the 1st century A.D.); and this is the reason why the central power, at least in the Carolingian age, did not want to give up direct control of the area.

From the 11th century the Curtis Naonis (no longer "royal") belongs to the Treffens of Bayern, then to the Traungaus of Styria, to the Babenbergs of Austria and, finally, to the Habsburgs.

The Babenbergs, between 1221 and 1230, acquire the Portus Naonis, whose growing importance had been discovered with the resumption of trade after the year 1000.

While the Portus became the new capital of the small Babenberg and then Habsburg state, the Curtis Naonis became more simply Curia Naonis and then Villa Naonis.

Recovering in the 17th and 18th centuries with the paper and ceramic industries and in the 19th century with the textile industry, the town managed to overcome the isolation to which the new state road between Pordenone and the bridge of Casarsa had condemned it at the beginning of the 19th century.

Today Cordenons is a town whose economy is balanced between a thriving agriculture and several small and medium craft and industrial companies, it features a lively cultural life based on facilities such as the "A. Moro" Cultural Centre, which comprises the town library and a multi-purpose Auditorium.

The municipality comprises the hamlets of Nogaredo, Romans, Sclavons and Villa D'Arco.