Spilimbergo and the Mosaic School
The Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli
On the right bank of the Tagliamento, in the province of Pordenone, Spilimbergo is an elegant small town known as the "city of mosaic", thanks to the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, one of the most important mosaic schools in the world. Founded in 1922, it carries on a tradition that has its roots in the Roman and Byzantine mosaics of Aquileia, Grado and Ravenna, and in the skill of the many Friulian craftsmen, the "terrazzieri" and mosaicists, who for centuries emigrated all over Europe and the world. The school trains young people from many countries in the art of mosaic and terrazzo, and its works decorate churches, public buildings and monuments in Italy and abroad. Visitors can see the workshops and the exhibition of works by students and masters, from reproductions of ancient mosaics to contemporary creations, and in the streets of the town many mosaics decorate façades and pavements.
Spilimbergo also preserves a beautiful historic centre, with the Duomo di Santa Maria Maggiore, a Romanesque-Gothic church of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries with frescoes and a precious organ with doors painted by Giovanni Antonio da Pordenone, and the castle, a complex of palaces around a courtyard, among which the Palazzo Dipinto, whose façade is entirely covered with fifteenth-century frescoes depicting knights, virtues and decorative motifs. Along the main street, the Corso Roma, there are other frescoed palaces and arcades. Every year in summer, the town hosts an important photography festival.
Tip: visit the mosaic school, open to the public; then walk to the castle and admire the Palazzo Dipinto.
Where it is
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