Pordenone (Pordenon in Friulian and in Venetian, Portenau in
German) is an Italian town of 51 714 inhabitants in Friuli-Venezia
Giulia. It the main city of western Friuli (or right Tagliamento),
located along the banks of the Noncello river (whose short course
flows into the Meduna river, the main tributary of the Livenza), in
the center of an urban area of about 86,000 inhabitants consisting
of the municipality of Cordenons, to the east, and that of Porcia,
to the west, its past port vocation is evident in the name Portus
Naonis (in Latin "port of the [river] Naone" [or "Noncello"]).
According to the regional law 26/2014 "Reorganization of the
Region System - Local Autonomies of Friuli Venezia Giulia" Pordenone
was the seat of the Noncello UTI, of which it was part together with
the municipalities of Cordenons, Fontanafredda, Porcia, Roveredo in
Piano, San Quirino and Zoppola. Even following the suppression of
the province, the municipality of Pordenone (like those of Trieste,
Gorizia and Udine) still maintains the prerogatives connected to the
qualification of "provincial capital".
The territory of Pordenone is located in the low
Friuli plain of the Po-Venetian plain, south of the Carnic Prealps.
The location of the first settlement is not accidental: it was in
fact on an alternative route to via Postumia, called "stradalta",
which connected the Roman cities of Opitergium (Oderzo) and Iulia
Concordia (Concordia Sagittaria) with Bellunum (Belluno) and Iulium
Carnicum (Zuglio) and the Norico region.
The low Pordenone
plain is characterized by an abundance of water and the phenomenon
of resurgences.
Pordenone belongs to the climatic zone E.
Antiquity
In Roman times the urban
nucleus was located in the upper course of the Noncello river,
roughly in the place where the hamlet of Torre stands today. The
Roman origins of the city found confirmation in the discoveries that
took place in the twentieth century. Count Giuseppe di Ragogna,
aristocrat owner of the castle of Torre, found, following an
excavation campaign (1940-1948; 1950-1952), the remains of a Roman
villa, also used as a site for the processing and storage of
agricultural products and goods (the richness of the finds found,
such as fragments of skilfully hand-made frescoes and refined mosaic
material, reflect the high wealth of the clients). The place was
probably chosen for the presence, further north, of a large river
ford, easily reachable on foot from the "villa", where there was
probably also a small river landing.
Middle Ages
With the
beginning of the early medieval period (from the sixth century) the
river routes assumed greater importance and the nucleus of the city
consequently moved towards the valley, in a position that allowed
the landing of larger boats. The city then developed on the right
bank of the Noncello river, near an inlet that took advantage of a
motta (hillock, embankment) surrounded to the west by the Codafora
canal and to the north-east by that of the Molini.
Like the
rest of Friuli, it was part of the Longobard Duchy of Friuli and
subsequently of the Marca del Friuli, even if the whole period from
the Roman era up to about the 10th century is, however, little
documented. Recent findings in the area of the cathedral of San
Marco, and in particular in the area in front of the town hall and
under the Palazzo Ricchieri, show that Pordenone was inhabited,
approximately under the reign of Berengario, by populations from
Carinthia, who at era was of Slavic culture (Carantani). The first
probable reference to the town of Pordenone comes in 1204 in the
travel diary of Wolger, bishop of Passau, who would become patriarch
of Aquileia.
For a short period in which the city was an
integral part of the homeland of Friuli. At the beginning of the
13th century, probably after 1221, the Babenbergs, dukes of Austria
and Styria and former lords of Cordenons, obtained dominion over
Pordenone from the lords of Castello, vassals of the Patriarch. It
is curious to note that the royals of Spain, most recently Philip VI
of Spain, still bear the title of Lords of Pordenone, Duke of
Carinthia and Styria. The Babenbergs gave in concession to local
lords, including the di Ragogna, the tasks of administrators and
debt collectors. With the extinction of the Babenberg family in
1246, their possessions returned to Emperor Frederick II.
Pordenone was conquered by King Ottokar II of Bohemia during his
occupation of the duchies of Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola
between 1257 and 1270. In 1270 Ottocaro proclaimed himself "dominus
Portusnaonis", underlining the importance he gave to the dominion
Pordenone. When in 1276 Ottocaro, defeated, was forced to return all
the Austrian lands and neighboring domains to Emperor Rudolph I of
Habsburg, Pordenone also returned to imperial hands, so much so that
in 1282 Pordenone became the personal heritage of the House of
Austria, representing de facto an enclave of the archduchy of
Austria in the territory of the patriarchate of Aquileia.
The
castle of Torre and the small surrounding area, after the raids of
Gregorio da Montelongo in 1262, instead became the property of the
patriarchs of Aquileia, who subsequently granted them as a fief to
the nobles of Prata and then exchanged with the lords of Ragogna.
The village of Vallenoncello belonged for a long time to the
bishop of Salzburg.
Between the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries the political fragmentation of the area was further
accentuated because Corva (current fraction of Azzano Decimo) was
given to the di Prata who also acquired some parts of Fiume Veneto.
In 1291 the Duke Albert I of Habsburg granted the city a first
statute which remained in force until 1438, when a new statute was
drawn up more suited to the new needs of the municipality. This
second text remained in force until the early sixteenth century. In
the 14th century the settlement of Pordenone grew considerably
thanks to the flourishing river trade and, in 1314, it was given the
status of a city.On 23 August 1318 a raging fire devastated the city
which until then was built almost entirely of wood . After this
disaster the decision was made to rebuild the city with stone
buildings. In 1347 the bell tower was inaugurated, built next to the
cathedral of San Marco. The Pordenone area always remained an area
of interest for the Patriarchs, who repeatedly tried to conquer
it. The current coat of arms of the city was granted at the
beginning of 1400 by William I of Habsburg. The coat of arms is
almost the same as the one previously granted by Ottocaro.
During the Venetian invasion of 1420 which led to the annexation of
the patriarchal state of Aquileia to the republic of Venice, the
Habsburg possessions were not touched. Pordenone therefore continues
to be an Austrian enclave. In 1499 Friuli suffered the worst Turkish
invasion in its history. The Turks (who were actually mainly
Bosnians) sowed death and devastation even in the surroundings of
Pordenone, while the city itself managed to save itself thanks to
its walls. In fact, the Turks were unable to withstand a siege.
The city suffered - like almost all cities of the time - also
many plagues and epidemics (in 1444, 1485, 1527, 1556 and 1576), the
worst of which occurred in 1630, when almost half of the population
died.
Modern age
On April 20, 1508, Captain Bartolomeo
d'Alviano "leads the Venetian arms to the conquest of Pordenone",
taking it away from the Habsburgs on behalf of the Republic of
Venice. Venice kept the city only for two years since in 1509 it
lost it again. However, in 1514, Bartolomeo d'Alviano himself
brought it back under the control of the Serenissima. Venice did not
directly govern the city, preferring to grant it as a fief to
Bartolomeo d'Alviano, who ruled it as lordship. Upon his death in
1515, he was succeeded by his consort Pantasilea Baglioni, and then
by his son Livio (his presumed portrait by Pordenone in the city's
cathedral is noteworthy), who died in battle in 1537.
In that
year Pordenone and the neighboring territories passed under the
direct control of the Republic of Venice and remained there for more
than two and a half centuries. The Serenissima kept the statutes of
the city and recognized, at least on paper, the privileges already
acquired during the Habsburg rule; he also provided to reactivate
the Pordenone economy by creating a new port and strengthening
manufacturing activities.
Contemporary age
Located between
Udine and Venice, connected to the railway and road line
Venice-Pordenone-Udine and Gorizia, Pordenone in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries found a perfect balance between a traditional
conservative culture with a Venetian plant and an innovative breath
from the French and Austro world. -Hungarian: the conservative
front, while winking at the progress of other nations, maintained a
close social and cultural relationship with Venice and the world of
tradition handed down, while on the opposite side the progressives
tried to break away from the past to embrace the new ideas arrived
in particular with the Napoleonic campaign of 1797.
With the
fall of Venice, Pordenone underwent a first return to Austria,
followed by the Napoleonic parenthesis. Following the capitulation
of Bonaparte and the decisions taken in the Congress of Vienna, the
city returned to be part of the Austrian Empire and was aggregated
with the rest of Friuli and Veneto to the Lombard-Veneto kingdom: it
was thus included by the Austrians in the province of Friuli which
had Udine as its capital. The construction of the Pontebbana road
and the railway line (1855) Venice-Pordenone-Udine led, on the one
hand, to an inexorable decline of the port and the river path, but,
on the other hand, it gave rise to the affirmation of the industry .
Starting in the 1840s, numerous cotton mills were built alongside
the already numerous paper mills and the Ceramica Galvani factory.
After the annexation to the kingdom of Italy, which took place in
1866, the introduction of electricity in 1888 allowed the
modernization of the plants and an increase in industrial
production. From 1 November 1915 the city hosted the headquarters of
the Supreme Command Group which, on 15 April 1916, became the IV
Group and then remained until May 1917. On 10 April 1917 the XI
Group was also born and remained until the battle of Caporetto.
The destruction caused by the First World War and the crisis of
1929 dragged the cotton sector into a slow decline from which it
would never recover. After the Second World War, Zanussi (now part
of the Swedish multinational Electrolux), until then only a small
company producing economic kitchens fueled by wood or gas, became a
European giant in the field of household appliances, coming to
occupy many of the inhabitants of the city. The great take-off of
Zanussi industry, in the 60s of the twentieth century, gave an
impulse to the city's demographic growth and thus Pordenone tripled
the number of inhabitants, thanks to immigration coming in
particular from the province of Treviso and southern Italy.
In 1968 Pordenone became the provincial capital. Until then, western
Friuli was part of the province of Udine. Since 1974 it has also
been the bishopric of the diocese of Concordia-Pordenone. The
episcopal seminary with the school of theology had already been
located in Pordenone since 1919. Recently the city has become the
seat of a university consortium which hosts university courses
organized by the University of Udine, the University of Trieste and
the ISIA of Rome. Furthermore, since 2002 the technological pole has
been active to promote the culture of innovation in local
businesses.
899 - Torre is conquered by the
Magyars
1278 - Pordenone definitively passes to the Holy Roman
Empire under the Habsburgs
1291 - Alberto I grants the first
legislative chapters for the city which will constitute the first
nucleus of the Pordenone Statutes
1318 - On 23 August a fire
breaks out which destroys all the wooden buildings, which were the
majority. From this cataclysm, a new urban structure was conceived,
with a main road axis from which the minor streets would have
departed
1347 - The bell tower of the Cathedral of San Marco is
inaugurated
1438 - On April 24, the first and last major
modification is made to the Pordenone Statutes, which regularize
issues of public order, private and criminal law, adding rules on
the organization of professions
1447 - The Pordenone nobility is
born, made up of twelve families
1487 - An epidemic of plague,
the first in the city, halves the number of inhabitants
1508 - On
April 20 Bartolomeo d'Alviano conquers the city of Pordenone, and
therefore for the first time the city passes under the influence of
the republic of Venice
1528 - Another plague epidemic strikes the
city
1537 - Livio d'Alviano, son of Bartolomeo, dies in battle.
The lordship of the d'Alviano in the city ends, which then passes
under the direct control of the Republic of Venice
1556 - Another
plague epidemic strikes the city
1631 - A plague epidemic, the
largest in the city's history, halves the population
1836 - A
cholera epidemic strikes the city
1886 - Cholera appears again in
the city
1917 - On November 6, the Austro-German army enters the
city and occupies the city for almost a year
1918 - On 1 November
the invading army leaves Pordenone, giving way to the Italian army
1945 - On April 30, the Allies enter the city, the city is free from
war
1968 - On February 22 the province of Pordenone is
established, the city becomes its capital
1968 - On 1 September
1968 with the established province the first vehicles with the new
PN number plate are registered. The first, registered PN0001, is a
FIAT 500.
2017 - The province established in 1968 is abolished