Rural Villages

In Friuli the predominant form of farming was a feudal type system of colonisation and management; this created a unique relationship between the countryside and the towns/cities all over Italy. It was the “patriarchal” model that developed the morphology of the historical-town planning heritage. Rural Friulian villages are characterised by special features in their structure, whose constituent elements form a whole. Its main features are “the canal road” and the curtain of buildings and boundary walls that surround closed protected settlements. Another significant element within these curtains is the house with a courtyard that constitutes the type of sequence. Outside the centres of the villages a rural environment model has also been applied, with the gardens near the houses surrounded by a road which marks the perimeter of the centre; on the outside are cultivated fields.
Our villages have remained unchanged for 900 years and therefore constitute a fundamental heritage that is surely worth a visit. We can see some beautiful ones along the bridle path, just remember Fontanabona and Pagnacco, Borgo Tami in the municipality of Tricesimo, at Cassacco Borgo Simeoni, Miotti, at Treppo Grande Borgo Baiutti, at Tavagnacco Borgo Mattiussi and the town centre itself, which is a beautiful example.