The medieval castle of Cordovado, not far from the city of Pordenone, is known as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. The Castle, located probably near a prehistoric "castelliere" and a later Roman castrum guarding the Via Augusta, was built around the eleventh century to defend the territory from the raids of the Hungarians.
Castello di Cordovado History
The bishops of Concordia governed him through a steward, a charge attributed to the Ridolfi family who had the task of residing there, defending it and administering justice to it.
In the late Middle Ages the outer circle of walls, with embankment, moat and two gate towers still present today, enclosed an internal space consisting of the bishop's castle, in turn equipped with walls and moat with drawbridge, keep and other buildings.
The medieval Cordovado is therefore concentrated in the castellana area, inside which there are some interesting buildings like Palazzo Ridolfi; the ancient house of the captain, ie Palazzo Bozza Marrubini, frescoed internally by Francesco Zimolo (1704-1712); the elegant Palazzo Agricola with renaissance forms with large arches and three-light windows.
Inside the circle wall is the Palazzo Freschi Piccolomini (1669-1704) formerly called Attimis, an imposing structure built on the model of the ancient Venetian palaces, on three floors with a large entrance portal, immersed in the greenery of an ancient park. Of the two tower towers, the one placed to the south preserves the postern, the northern, also called the Clock, the stairs and the walkways inside. Along the stretch of the south-eastern walls are the remains of the moat and the buildings inside the enclosure in the nineteenth century.
At the end of the seventeenth century part of the fortified apparatus was demolished or converted into a civil residence, thus giving rise to the Palazzo Freschi Piccolomini.
Also inside the village we find the Agricultural Palace and the small medieval church, recently restored, where a fresco attributed to the Giotto school is preserved. The Castle and its historic gardens are open to visitors and host cultural events and events throughout the year.