Gradisca d'Isonzo

Frontier Baroque

The Name

The name is probably of Slavic origin: gradisce, "fortified place" and, in a wider sense, village, fort, castle.

According to some it may be of Gothic or Lombard origin: warda, or wardicula, namely a "small observation post".

History

• 1176: the document marking Gradisca's entry into history speaks of a farming village with seven families of Slavic and Latin origin paying tribute to the Patriarchate of Aquileia. All traces of this primitive nucleus then vanish for over 300 years.
• 1420: the Republic of Venice defeats the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
• 1479-1511: Gradisca's Venetian period begins with the refounding of the village itself, conceived as a bulwark of Christianity against the Turks. In fact the Venetian Republic has only recently occupied the Friuli region and is about to organize the territory. Within only a few years this small farming village has been transformed into an important city-fortress. In 1500 Leonardo da Vinci, in Gradisca on behalf of the Venetian Senate, designs new weapons and defenses to protect the fortress.
• 1511: Maximilian I's lansquenets seize the fortress: from this moment on Gradisca is Austrian. From 1615 to 1617 Venice unleashes what comes to be known as the "Gradiscan war" against the Habsburgs in order to win back the city: the fortress resists and Gradisca gains the reputation of being invincible, and as such is sold to Johann Anton von Eggenberg by Ferdinand III for financial reasons.
• 1647-1717: Gradisca experiences its golden age under the Eggenberg princes: it is enriched by palaces and public institutions. This little State, wisely governed by men like Francesco Ulderico della Torre, has its own laws, system of measurement and currency. In 1717, with the extinction of the Eggenberg male line, the village, together with its county, returns to the Austrian Empire.
• 1754: under Maria Teresa, Gradisca is annexed to the County of Gorizia, effectively losing all autonomy.
• 1855: field marshal Radetzky permits the demolition of a tract of the city walls at the request of the citizens, who are desirous of opening the village to the green areas outside. Thus the "Spianata" is created in 1863, which with its cafés immediately becomes the heart of the town's social life.
• 1915-18: during the first world war Gradisca is set aflame. At the close of the war, on the 6th of January 1921, it is annexed to Italy.
• 1945: in May the community of Gradisca fears annexation to Tito's Yugoslavia, but on the 12th of June all such fears are allayed.

A Middle-European drawing room enclosed within mighty walls

Gradisca has four periods: the Venetian 15th century, the Austrian 17th century, the Habsburg 19th century and the Italian 20th century.

Conceived by the Republic of Venice as a bulwark against Turkish incursions, which were frequent and devastating in the Friuli area, it was erected by Venetian architects as a fortified village, with wide streets intersecting at right angles (in order to facilitate the maneuvers of troops), which together form a regular urban layout, subdivided into compact blocks of houses.

The 15th-century civic constructions have been lost. Of Gradisca's oldest period remain the Venetian Casa dei Provveditori (superintendents' palace), now home of the Regional Wine Cellar, and the Palazzo del Fisco (tax authorities' palace), also called Palazzo Coassini, erected between 1479 and 1483, whose façade shows recent modifications.

Palazzo Strassoldo was constructed between the second half of the 16th century and the first quarter of the 17th, the prototype of numerous other aristocratic residences erected in Gradisca in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The rule of the princes of Eggenberg (1647-1717) constitutes Gradisca's golden age, a period of remarkable economic, civil, demographic and urban development. Thus the village's appearance changes from the construction point of view as well; its late-15th century fortified village is transformed into a residential citadel with a lordly aspect.

Between 1650 and 1750 almost all of the aristocratic palaces which still distinguish the historic center were erected. Casa de' Portis was probably already completed by the end of the 17th century, as well as Casa de' Salamanca, Casa Wassermann, and one of the town's most important edifices, Palazzo de' Comelli-Stuckenfeld, austere and massive, which borrows the structure of its façade from Palazzo Strassoldo.

In the following decades other aristocratic dwellings sprang up including Casa de' Brumatti, Casa Spangher and Casa Ciotti: with the last two we enter the 18th century. These are all closed and compact structures, with lovely rustic portals on the façade, their style inspired by the late Mannerism of the Venetian baroque period.

However here we are in the countryside, inside a fortress: this justifies the town's slightly austere appearance, certainly tempered by a ciàcole (chat) in the pub, and by the stylistic level that is slightly less magnificent than the Venetian-style architectural models, but without doubt still higher than the Friulian construction standards of that period.

Apart from these aristocratic palaces, two structures were erected by public initiative in the historic center during the captaincy of Francesco Ulderico della Torre (1656-95): the Loggia of the Merchants, conceived as a meeting place for the local nobility and later a reference point for the merchant class, and the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, constructed to counter the usury then practiced by the Jews. The former is situated opposite the Palazzo dei Provveditori and on the ground floor presents a charming loggia with dressed stone arches; the latter, imposing, has an elegant portal overhung by a canopy, inside which a Baroque sculpture depicts the Pietà.

During the government of Della Torre, Palazzo Torriani (1710-30) also took shape, the Gradisca residence of this noble household, a splendid suburban villa halfway between a city palace and a country dwelling. This structure, now the Town Hall, is without doubt the most important in Gradisca: of Palladian inspiration, it can be interpreted as an outpost of Venetian culture in eastern Friuli.

Casa Toscani is also remarkable, with an imposing rustic portal slightly refined by its balcony and railing, Palazzo de Fin-Patuna, already with a slight rococo influence, but Transalpine in style, and Palazzo Lottieri, whose façade is the restoration of the preceding 15th-century structure.

In 1863, with the demolition of a tract of the defensive walls, Gradisca was opened to the green of the park, to the Friuli plain, freed of its military obsession.

The "Spianata," center of the town's social life, attracted foreigners during the 19th century, with Austrian mounted military parades and concerts by the Philharmonic Society. The cafés in the Habsburg tradition sprang up after the war.

Walking along the perimeter of the Venetian walls, designed by Leonardo da Vinci, the visitor can count six mighty towers and two gates: Porta Nuova and Porta del Soccorso. Inside the walls stands the Castle, whose main nucleus is comprised of the Palazzo del Capitano.

As far as religious edifices are concerned, the Duomo with its lovely Baroque façade is worth seeing, as well as the Church of the Addolorata, constructed at the end of the 15th century.

Local Products

One visit to the Regional Wine Cellar "La Serenissima" is enough to appreciate the excellence of this region's wines, already planned in the vineyard and refined in the cellar.

After all, there are vineyards everywhere in Friuli. And there are eateries and taverns everywhere for tasting the treasures of these lands.

This fertile plain irrigated by the Isonzo river, of which Gradisca is the center, produces wines which are part of the "Isonzo del Friuli" DOC tradition: the best is offered by the reds, such as the robust Cabernet, the fragrant Merlot and the full-bodied Refosco; the whites include the splendid Pinot.

Ceramic articles created in the handicraft workshop La Felce also provide a memory of Gradisca.

Local dishes

Ottimi i salumi e i formaggi, e tra i primi la jota, una sostanziosa zuppa a base di fagioli, patate, cotenne, costine di maiale affumicate e crauti.

Tra i classici della cucina isontina ci sono il goulasch, le trippe, il baccalà e, nella stagione fredda, il cotechino (che qui si chiama "musetto") servito con le rape acide.

I dolci a Gradisca rivestono un ruolo importante e, su tutti, lo strudel di mele e la gubana.

Quest'ultima contiene in un involucro di pasta una farcitura a base di noci, zibibbo, uvetta, pinoli, cioccolato, e viene servita a fette irrorata con grappa.

Un dolce barocco, come i palazzetti gradiscani.