BORGOFRANCO. — Also known as Villanova or Villafranca, it is a medieval settlement, surrounded by walls and moats, generally with a square or rectangular layout, with two or four gates, founded for political purposes and in a strategic position to dominate communication routes, defend territories more susceptible to invasion, and serve as advanced outposts for the easier conquest of new lands. Only the Republic of Vercelli founded twenty-two such settlements in a single century.
From an economic standpoint, the *borgofranco* also served to populate and cultivate many uncultivated areas. The peasants who settled in the *borgo* were obligated to military service but enjoyed the rights of citizens, were exempt from certain taxes for a set number of years, and, as we see from the franchises of Vercelli, received a house and a farm in emphyteusis (whose rent was suspended in times of war), had the right to pasture and to gather firewood on common lands, could receive additional lands in emphyteusis from moral entities, and enjoyed a weekly market. It must therefore be remembered that *borghi franchi* contributed to a profound agricultural transformation and to the growth and geographical redistribution of the population.
The rural character of the Italian *borgofranco* is what differentiates it from the German *Freiburg* and the English *liber burgus*, which instead rose to the importance of true cities.
In eastern Veneto, the Patriarch of Aquileia, who held full feudal dominion over Friuli, organized in a similar manner the castles under his immediate authority and did not wish them to fall into the hands of his vassals. He entrusted them to his stewards or captains, subjecting the Church’s ministerials to their authority; or he granted the inhabitants habitation fiefs, obliging them to maintain stable residence with a duty of defense and endowing them with a house, lands, and a market; or he provided for them in other ways. Gradually, these inhabitants took part in the governance of the castle, and their representatives had a voice in the Parliament of the Patria. By the 13th century, this system was fully developed. In this manner, communities such as Cividale, Udine, Gemona, Tolmezzo, San Daniele, Sacile, and others of lesser importance came into being with their own free institutions.