The Castle Hill

The longest inhabited nucleus is the top of Castle Hill: here one can still admire part of the buildings pertaining to the old fortified structure. The Castle of Udine was built at the end of the XVIth century after the 1511 earthquake had irreparably damaged the previous construction. On the fortieth anniversary of the union of Friuli with Italy (1906) the Castle was turned into a Museum and is today the headquarters of the Civici Musei e Gallerie di Storia ed Arte di Udine (Museums and History and Art Galleries).

Entering through the spacious entrance hall with crossed arches, we note, to the left, the small guest-room, with frescos attributed to Pellegrino da San Daniele and works of art in wood dating back to the XIV-XVIIIth centuries.

On the next floor up is the Pinacoteca d'Arte Antica (Gallery of Ancient Art), halfway through the Gallery we find the Salone del Parlamento (Parliament Hall), that got its name from the Parliament of the Fatherland of Friuli, instituted in the XIIth  century.

 

Next to the castle is the Chiesa di Santa Maria, parish church of the city: it appears originally to have been built during the IVth century; its façade was instead reconstructed in simple renaissance forms by the architect Gaspare Negro, after the 1511 earthquake.

 

Leaving the church, to the right, we encounter the Casa della Confraternita embellished with attractive gothic arches.

Beyond the Arco Grimani (XVIth century), originally in via Portanuova and placed here in 1902, at the end of the castle square stand the Casa della Contadinanza. It arose in the XVIth century on the corner of via Vittorio Veneto and via Rauscedo, and was demolished and later rebuilt at least in its stone parts of architectural decoration in 1931
 

 

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