CARNIA Art & Culture among museums, villages, art exhibitions, ancient churches, tradition and gastronomy

Arrival in TOLMEZZO, the capital of Carnia, Alpine city of the year 2017.

Free time to individually visit the historic center which preserves traces of a fifteenth-century urban layout, visible in the “Borgat” district, with the Porta di Sotto, the small church of Santa Caterina and Casa Janesi. The eighteenth-century Cathedral of San Martino overlooking Piazza XX Settembre, preserves inside valuable frescoes by Nicola Grassi, commissioned by Jacopo Linussio, an extraordinary textile entrepreneur, with his cloth factory employed 33,000 people helping to drive the economy of the eighteenth century. true golden age for Carnia.

Accommodation in 3-stars hotel, area TOLMEZZO,

OVERNIGHT AT THE HOTEL

It is possible to rent a car at airport/railways station, see supplement

In the morning guided tour of the Carnic Museum of Popular Arts of Tolmezzo, housed in the seventeenth-century Palazzo Campeis, one of the most important ethnographic museums in Europe. In its thirty rooms you can admire the kitchen with the “fogolâr”, the room with carved wardrobes and chests, the dining room, the workshops of the artisans, the popular costumes, the Linussio weaving artifacts, and the rich collection of portraits that animate walls of the museum.

Continue to ILLEGIO, a village near Tolmezzo which has been the seat of international exhibitions for years. After lunch in a typical trattoria, visit of exhibition “CAMBIARE” that means CHANGE,  the fascinating meditation on this fundamental experience of our existence. From May 16th to October 17th you can admire 30 masterpieces of international origin, which show half a millennium of beauty, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. The story excites for the high quality of the works, some surprising for the splendor and for being authors to be discovered, others signed by the most shining stars in the sky of art: Tintoretto, Anton Van Dyck, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso .

Ath end walk through the streets of Illegio to discover the ancient houses, the suggestive “Via dei Mulini “and climb up to the Pieve di San Floriano, one of the oldest in Carnia, located on a spur of rock, facing that of San Pietro Church.

Breakfast and overnight at the hotel

Lunch in trattoria (typical restaurant)

Day dedicated to the discovery of two hidden corners of Carnia, first climbing up to PAULARO, in the center of the Incarojo valley. Visit of the “Mozartina” a precious collection of keyboard musical instruments, which can be admired but also heard, in fact the pupil of Maestro Canciani accompanies visitors by listening to the sound of the vast collection of pianos, fortepianos, organs, a very special museum , a real treat!

At the end it is possible to visit an atelier of “SCARPETS” also called “friulane”, shoes once born from the skilled hands of women who made them at home for the whole family, recovering leftovers of fabric with a true ecological sense ante-litteram. The new “Friulane” once used on holidays, have now become trendy, combining traditions and innovation. Free lunch.

In the afternoon guided tour of CERCIVENTO to admire the mosaics, murals, frescoes that have transformed the village into “An Open Air Bible”.  Walking through the streets of the village, the images of biblical passages that mark the path of man are revealed to the visitor.

Stop in SUTRIO, a characteristic village with stone houses and dinner in “osteria”  (tavern) with tasting  the “Cjarsons”, typical ravioli with a sweet and savory flavor.

Breakfast and overnight at the hotel

Dinner tasting in “osteria” (typical tavern)

Arrival in ZUGLIO, whose original name was Iulium Carnicum, was an ancient Roman center born during the proconsulate of Julius Caesar (59-49 BC) near the so-called Via Iulia Augusta which connected Aquileia with the province of Norico, and is today the main archaeological center of Carnia. Visit to the Civic Archaeological Museum which preserves finds from different locations in Carnia, these are material of considerable interest, referring to a large chronological period between the prehistoric and early medieval ages. The five wooden sculptures of the altar by Domenico da Tolmezzo of the Pieve di San Pietro are also preserved in the Museum, stolen and then found in 2016. Lunch free.

Ascent to the “Pieve di San Pietro” located in a strategic position on a hill overlooking the” Bût” valley and still honored today with the title of Cathedral of the other eleven “Pievi” present in Carnia. This condition of submission is remembered every year, on the occasion of the feast of the Ascension, with the suggestive rite of the “Bacio delle Croci”. Visit of the ancient mother church, an enchanting Gothic building that houses one of the most spectacular wooden altars in Carnia, the work of Domenico da Tolmezzo. In conclusion, we will visit the “Polse di Cougnes”, an ecumenical center of hospitality, spirituality, culture and environment, and the botanical garden “Garden of the simple” where over 1000 different species of plants are visible. Return to Tolmezzo and dinner in restaurant nearby.

Breakfast and overnight at the hotel

Tasting DINNER with DRINKS

Excursion dedicated to the Valley of Time with the enchanting village of PESARIIS, where you can admire 15 large clocks among the streets of the village, each of which with its own operating system: turbine water, tilting vessel planetary clock, the chessboard clock, the water tank clock, the giant paddle clock, the planisphere and nocturnal clock, the giant perpetual calendar clock . Guided tour of the Pesarina Clock Museum which testifies to 300 years of history of this activity. At the end, a pleasant 30-minute walk immersed in nature up to Osais, to exclusively visit an extraordinary pictorial cycle in the church of San Leonardo, which houses the colors and expressive power of a precious cycle of frescoes in the apse.

Breakfast at the hotel 

Lunch in restaurant in Pesariis

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