Pordenone and its Frescoed Corso
The Corso Vittorio Emanuele
In the western part of Friuli, on the banks of the Noncello river, Pordenone is a lively and modern city, an important industrial centre, which preserves a historic centre of great elegance. Its heart is the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, a long, slightly curved street lined on both sides by continuous arcades and by palaces of the Gothic and Renaissance periods, many of which still preserve their frescoed façades, with decorations, coats of arms, allegorical figures and mythological scenes painted between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, a testimony of the period when the city belonged to the Habsburgs and then to the Republic of Venice, and of its wealthy merchant families. Walking under the arcades, among shops and historic cafés, you can admire this "street-gallery".
At the end of the Corso stands the Palazzo Comunale, the town hall, a Gothic building of the thirteenth century with a Renaissance façade and clock tower, and nearby the Duomo di San Marco, with a tall Romanesque-Gothic bell tower, which preserves works by Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis, known as il Pordenone, the great painter of the Renaissance born here, one of the most original artists of the sixteenth century, rival of Titian, including the altarpiece of the "Madonna della Misericordia". The Museo Civico d'Arte, in the Palazzo Ricchieri, displays other works by him and by Friulian painters. Every year in September, Pordenone hosts Pordenonelegge, one of the most important book festivals in Italy, with hundreds of meetings with authors.
Tip: walk under the arcades of the Corso and look up at the frescoes; come in September for Pordenonelegge.
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