Terre di Gorizia_INGLESE

The lands
of Gorizia

This “garden town”, abounding with
tree-lined avenues, elegantly
expresses all its Mitteleuropean
essence. Overlooked by an enchanting
castle, its mild climate led to it being
chosen as a residence for Hapsburg
functionaries, hence its name,
the “Nice of Austria”.
Gorizia, an appealing encounter
G
orizia is a genuine melting pot
of different cultures and histories.
Today it is a “garden town”
welcoming its visitors to its tree-lined
avenues and stately villas. The layout of its
streets and edifices, its churches adorned
with their characteristic onion-shaped
domes, and the atmosphere in its coffee
houses are all a constant reminder of its
Mitteleuropean matrix.
Wandering along Corso Verdi and Corso
Italia, admiring the historic villas in their
spacious gardens, you can feel the late
19 th -century atmosphere which gave Gorizia
its name as the Nice of Austria, residence
to Hapsburg functionaries who chose
to live there for its pleasant climate.
Many of the historic palazzos offered
hospitality to illustrious people.
You can trace the steps of the legendary
Casanova, or breathe in the creative skills
of Goethe and Goldoni in Palazzo Lantieri.
The castle is a symbol of the town and its
original historic centre with its charming
hamlet. It offers a stunning view of its
surroundings, with a marvellous panorama
of vineyards, as well as of the territories
still scarred by the trenches from the two
world wars: real historic wounds you can
visit at the battle sites. You can go for a
wonderful walk around the exterior walls
of the castle.
This is a real leap into history, enhanced
by visits to the museums, including the
Museo del Medioevo Goriziano and the
Musei Provinciali di Borgo Castello
adjacent to Casa Tasso and Casa
Dornberg, which house important
permanent collections, such as the
Museo della Grande Guerra, the interesting
museum on World War I, the Collezione
Archeologica, the Museo di Storia e Arte
and the Museo della Moda e delle Arti
Applicate, the only museum on fashion
and the applied arts of its kind.
Finally, Palazzo Coronini Cronberg is a
sixteenth-century villa with a splendid,
spacious park; the villa retains its
original furnishings and an impressive
heritage of books and archives.
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Gorizia
This is where the last wall of the old “iron curtain” fell.
Where you can walk with one foot in Slovenia and the other in Italy.
The divided
town
Highlights
Park of Palazzo
Coronini Cronberg
The private park of Palazzo
Coronini Cronberg,
an ancient Italian-style
garden is the most
important historic park in
Gorizia; access is free of
charge and group guided
tours can be booked.
The nineteenth-century
park extends over terraces
and embankments of
varying heights and rare
beauty. The vegetation
consists of botanic
compositions of
Mediterranean evergreens,
ash trees, lindens,
Himalaya cedars, exotic
plants such as palm trees,
Japanese medlars,
bamboos and a
century-old cork oak.
or half a century, Gorizia was also a symbol of the cold war, indeed the “iron
F curtain” ran through the town. Piazza Transalpina was physically divided until 2004
by a wall, and today you can still walk across it with one foot in Italy and the other
foot in Slovenia: an unusual experience you can only try in Gorizia.
Gorizia has, however, played an important role in Italy’s more recent history, experiencing
moments of sadness but also of great joy. Images of which you see before your very eyes
as you walk in its streets and squares, listening to the locals’ stories.
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The Isola
del sole
Grado
Charming lanes
overlooked by
ancient osterias
and trattorias.
A beach of the
finest sand and
a welcoming spa.
Nature expresses
itself in a rich
Nature reserve and
a lagoon populated
with vast numbers
of aquatic birds.
It is dotted with
“casoni”,
fishermen’s houses.
The Isola del sole
appeals all year
round.
T
he Isola del sole (sunny island) is a
refined and elegant seaside resort,
replete with ancient vestiges.
The narrow lanes and squares in the small
town of Grado are home to some really
charming, artistically valuable settings,
which keep their charm all year round.
Even in winter the town is imbued with its
special atmosphere, and it is very enjoyable
to stroll through the lanes, stopping off in
one of the many trattorias or ancient
osterias specialized in sea food, which
recall the times when fishing was the
town’s main activity.
Grado’s charm is to be found in its
beaches of very fine sand, in its
spa, in the splendid lagoon and in
the Valle Cavanata Nature Reserve. Not to
mention its historic heritage. In Campo
Patriarchi, in the heart of the town, lie
the main testimonies of Grado’s ancient
splendour: the Duomo, the ancient Basilica
di Santa Maria delle Grazie and
the Iulia Felix, a Roman merchant ship
recently found in the lagoon, still with
its complete load.
The landscape of Grado lagoon is
spectacular, populated as it is all year
round with countless species of aquatic
birds. The lagoon is crossed by a maze of
navigable canals, used by the fishermen to
reach the casoni, traditional lagoon
dwellings, built with straw and lagoon
reeds, used as a resting place and shelter.
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Aquileia
A jewel to discover
Aquileia was a city of fundamental importance in the
Roman Empire. It has been inscribed on the World Heritage
List by UNESCO and most of its original features are
well-preserved. Moreover, the basilica houses one of the
most impressive mosaics in the world.
quileia is the archaeological site par excellence; it has been inscribed on the
A World Heritage List by UNESCO and appeals greatly to visitors. It offers you
an unparalleled dive back into history as you wander through its stunning
archaeological area, between the impressive colonnade in the forum, the commercial,
political and juridical heart of the city, and through the ruins of the Roman river port,
where goods from the Mediterranean converged. Visit the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta,
which conserves one of the most impressive mosaics in the world, and you will be
transported back to a fascinating past. Aquileia is one of the cradles of Italian
and European civilization. The Cripta degli Scavi with its beautiful mosaics
is important for understanding the early history of Christian Aquileia.
Alongside the Basilica you can admire the Chiesa dei Pagani
(pagan church) and the Battistero (baptistery).
In the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, one of the leading
archaeological museums in North Italy, you will find countless
Roman finds from Aquileia and its immediate surroundings.
8 9

Collio
Gentle hills dotted with small hamlets and vineyards, just behind the
Slovenian border. Where a special climate and terrain give life to wines
famed throughout the world. The wine and cherry road is an ideal route
for immersing yourself in these magical lands.
A land
of wine
T
he Collio is a vast hilly area situated
on the edge of the beautiful Friulian
plain, whose largest town is Cormòns.
Its climate and special terrain together
make a winning pair: Collio and wine, or
rather, excellent wine of international fame.
The Collio is indeed known worldwide as
an area producing exceptionally fine
wine, in particular its white wine.
The landscape is also beautiful,
with miles and miles of green
hills covered in rows of vines
(in the spring coloured with
cherry blossom), dotted
with scattered houses and
white hamlets clustered
round pointed bell towers.
For many years there has been an ideal
itinerary for discovering the Collio: the
“Strada del vino e delle ciliegie” (Wine and
cherry road), which starts at the western
outskirts of Gorizia and descends the hills
as far as the northern border of Dolegna,
passing through all the villages and
fabulous landscapes. From the top of Monte
Quarin, near the Roman tower, the view
overlooks gentle slopes covered in a blanket
of generous vineyards.
In San Floriano, along the “Strada del vino”,
you can book a visit to the Museo del vino,
a wine museum housed in the wine cellar
of Castello Formentini.
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11

Redipuglia
Reliving
history
The site of the largest First World War memorial in Europe.
A palaeontology museum
recounting 500 million
years, an interesting theme
park on the First World
War, and one of the most
beautiful villages in Italy.
Monfalcone
Highlights
Medea
On Medea hill, King
Victor Emmanuel III’s
observatory during the
First World War, stands
the Ara Pacis, a
monument erected in
1951 conserving urns
containing clods of earth
from each of the war
cemeteries and drops of
water from the seas
where battles took place.
he monument in Redipuglia holds the bodies of 100,000 soldiers and is the largest
T ever World War I memorial in Europe. You can set off from the massive flight of
steps built in karst white stone, to trace a historic journey between trenches and
memories. An observatory is located at the top of the memorial, where you can identify the
scenes of many battles fought in the Great War. On Sant’Elia hill you can find the “Parco
della Rimembranza” (memorial park) a stepped avenue bordered by relics and epigraphs
from the cemetery of the thirty thousand who once occupied this area.
Highlights
Sacrario di Oslavia
The white memorial
monument was built to
honour the bodies of the
Italian soldiers who died in
the First World War (1938).
A dark marble cross stands
inside the central tower,
surrounded by three
galleries containing the
bodies of nearly sixty
thousand soldiers. In the
crypt, a marble
sarcophagus holds the
bodies of thirteen soldiers
decorated with the military
gold medal.
onfalcone is an important industrial hub, particularly renowned for its prestigious
M shipyards. But it also retains some striking historic remains. The town’s symbolic
monument is the medieval Rocca, which houses the Museo Paleontologico, with
finds illustrating geological history dating back to 500 million years ago. The Chiesa della
Marcelliana, was erected on a site of ancient religious practices, and has been altered
several times over the centuries.
The Parco tematico della Grande Guerra, a theme park on the First World War is very
captivating: you can immerse yourself in the period of the war as you walk through
trenches and communication bays.
Unforgettable
visits
Gradisca d’Isonzo
ome to one of the most beautiful villages in Italy: stroll through the streets of
C Gradisca d’Isonzo, which has won a place in the prestigious classification of the
Borghi più belli d’Italia. From the unusual elliptic-shaped Piazza Unità d’Italia,
you can admire long stretches of its ancient city walls, as well as
many valuable palazzos, for example palazzo Torrioni, which
houses the town documentary museum and the Luigi
Spazzapan contemporary art gallery.
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13

Encounters in nature
The Riserva naturale Foce dell’Isonzo, with its
famous Camargue horses and the nature reserve
in Valle Cavanata, whose cycle paths take you
along interesting routes. The parco Piuma with
its panoramic terraces along the Isonzo river
and the Riserva Naturale dei Laghi di Doberdò
e di Pietrarossa, a typical karst landscape.
T
he Riserva naturale Foce dell’Isonzo
lies near the mouth of the Timavo
river. An area brimming with
charming naturalistic features, it is
inhabited by countless animal species,
including the famed Camargue horses.
The Riserva naturale della Valle Cavanata,
situated in the easternmost part of the
Grado lagoon, used to be a fishing valley.
Two cycle paths, one heading towards
the woods and the other towards the sea,
take you past some spots of great
environmental interest.
The more panoramic spots look out over
views of Gorizia, the Slovenian plateau
and the Isonzo plain.
Carso is a landscape unto itself: barren,
fascinating and mysterious, concealing
dolines dotted with thorny shrubs, such
as juniper and sumac. In the middle of
this unusual environment lies the Riserva
Naturale dei Laghi di Doberdò e di
Pietrarossa: the lakes are in depressions
formed by strange geological occurrences.
Doberdò lake is one of the few examples
of a karst lake in Europe.
In spring, the parco Piuma, which flanks
the Isonzo river, is an enchanting sight
to see: the azalea garden blossoms in
an explosion of bright colours.
Small beaches and rocky buttresses can
be admired from the terrace overlooking
the river. It is an unspoilt environment
suitable for numerous activities practised
in contact with nature.
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AUSTRIA
CARNIA
TARVISIO
SLOVENIA
PORDENONE
UDINE
GORIZIA
TRIESTE
Easy to reach, hard to forget
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33033 Codroipo (Ud) - Italy
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TEL. 0039 0432 734100
DSF design / photo: Valdemarin, Curto, Archivio Palazzo Coronini Cronberg, Noiza, Baronchelli, Tassotto e Max, Comune di Aquileia / printed by: Grafiche Manzanesi
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