CIVIDALE DEL FRIULI. - Roman remains and particularly inscriptions (which do not appear to have been brought there from elsewhere) attest to a community under the name of Forum Iulii; from it the region of Friuli then took its name. The site, situated on the Natisone, became the seat of the Lombard frontier duchy as soon as Alboin, having crossed the upper valley of the Isonzo, entered Italy (569).
Epic legends collected by Paul the Deacon in his Historia Longobardorum deal with the vicissitudes of C. and of the duchy in the struggles against the Avars and the Slavs, who also wished to penetrate into Italy. At the beginning of the 8th century, C., by force of circumstances, became for some time the stable seat of the patriarch of Aquileia.
When the latter, after the Carolingian domination and that of the kings of Italy, concentrated in himself also the feudal lordship with the authority of duke and count, C. became one of the most important communities with its own statutes, market, and jurisdiction; however, with the Venetian conquest (1420) Udine prevailed over C. as the capital of Friuli. Pio Puschini
MONUMENTS
Leaving aside the records of the classical age, in the absence of earlier remains one must come down to those of the Lombard period. They tell us of Lombard necropolises (tombs of that period have even recently been found) with weapons and also with precious furnishings (gold leaf crosses: especially important is the one with gemstone settings found in the monumental sarcophagus of a duke who is not improbably the Gisulf of the early days of the duchy; the falsity of a graffito bearing that name is not really proven).
As regards ecclesiastical archaeology, something truly outstanding survives from the first half of the 8th century: the altar of Ratchis, son of Duke Pemmo (the epigraph is on it), formerly placed in the church of St. John near the baptistery of the Cathedral (whose bases have been rediscovered), and the tegurium that stood above the font, which was commissioned to be carved by the enterprising patriarch Callistus (there too an epigraph). The first has on its front the Ascension and on its sides the Adoration of the Magi and the Visitation; on the back, images of crosses and a fenestella that stood over the relic cavity. The second has on its archivolts animal figures of symbolic character and floral scrolls. They are works of rough but effective sculpture and include remnants of typically barbarian ornament. C. possesses a rich series of barbarian sculptures: chancel panels, tympana of ciboria, architraves, capitals.
The finest example is perhaps the chancel panel bearing the epigraph of the patriarch Siguald (second half of the 8th century; a cross between candelabra, symbols of the Evangelists). From the following period, dominated by the Franks, there survives a chapel of very great importance for the history of art: the "Lombard tempietto" (oratory of the female monastery founded by the Lombards), which consists of a hall covered by groin vaults and a choir divided into three parts by columns. On the entrance wall (there are traces also of a side wall) a singular ornament unfolds: the large lunette over the door has a stucco frieze with a vine scroll and an outer radiating pattern of crossbow motifs. In the upper register six saints in stucco are seen, four of them crowned. Remains of frescoes with figures of martyrs complete the plastic decoration. Opinions as to the date of these decorations vary greatly, some placing it in the remote early Middle Ages, others as late as the late Middle Ages. Recently there has been talk of Ottonian art. Probably it must be considered as the product of Carolingian art, which nevertheless shows a certain Byzantine influence (given the proximity of the territories ruled by Byzantium). The most probable period is therefore the 9th century.
The collegiate church was rebuilt beginning in 1457 (architect Bartolomeo dalle Cisterne) and Pietro Lombardo also contributed to it in the first half of the 16th century. Among the numerous treasures that adorn it, the silver altarpiece with the Assumption of the Madonna, donated by the patriarch Pellegrino III (1195-1204), stands out: it is a true masterpiece of Romanesque art. The church of Sts. Peter and Blaise, rebuilt toward the end of the 15th century, gathers the records of three pre-existing oratories (partly preserved); a chapel offers interesting 14th-century frescoes (Life of St. Blaise); the facade was entirely painted (1506-1508) by "Zuan de Toschanys" and "Paulo impentor". The beautiful church of St. Francis belongs to the end of the 13th century; with its tall bell tower it dominates the picturesque cleft of rocks at the bottom of which the Natisone flows.
Many other distinguished works of religious art (miniatures, sacred vessels, textiles, etc.) are collected for the most part in the treasury of the Collegiate church and in the Museum.
Bibliography3 works
Carlo Cecchelli