Land of delightful traditions
With the rediscovery of the value of the environment, there is an increasingly
frequent return to the desire to go for long walks, visit old villages and simply
stroll through woods characterised by previously forgotten silences and scents…
The whole Municipal territory is a clever and spontaneous combination of
uncontaminated nature and historical vestiges.
The visitor can rediscover
mediaeval suggestions near the castles of Cucagna, Zucco and Soffumbergo,
admire the architectonic austerities of the mansions or simply spend time on the
plateaux looking at minor churches and enjoying a calming landscape, a moment’s silence, far away
from the hectic frenzy of everyday life. Faedis was also a highly strategic point, located as it was on
the “via Cividina”, the main road which linked Gemona with Cividale (Forum Iulii).
It made its offi cial entry into written history in 1027, when the Carinthian aristocrat Odorico of
Auspergh, obtained from the Patriarch of Aquileia Popone, permission to build a castle (Cucagna
Castle) right above Faedis. As time went by, the family spilt off into various branches: Partistagno,
Valvasone and Zucco. A few centuries later, in 1248, a branch of the Cucagna family, which in the
meantime had acquired prestige and importance in the scenario of feudal history in Friuli, also
built the underlying Zucco Castle. The other part of the feud (comprising Campeglio, Raschiacco,
Colloredo and Valle) was governed by the Schafemberg family(Soffumbergo), whose castle - of
which there remain just a few ruins above the town of Campeglio - was also the summer residence
of the patriarchs of Aquileia. After 1420, with the start of the rule of the Serenissima, all of these
country houses were gradually abandoned.
Faedis has occupied a leading role during the dramatic
and painful events of this century, fi rst succumbing to the impact and crudeness of the Great War
and then taking a primary position in the Second World War and the fi ght for liberation.
The period after the war, characterised by extensive emigration, fi rstly abroad and then, in the
60’s and 70’s towards the countries more industrialised areas, led to the abandon of agriculture,
craftwork and movement away from the mountain villages…Today Faedis, having maintained its
environmental peculiarities and handed down an art which, now more than ever before, is aimed at
safeguarding the fl avours and traditions of the farming world, is the setting for an “ecological return”,
the leitmotiv of which lies in the search for harmonious balance between the economic instances
of the craft, winegrowing and alternative tourism sectors.
The castles are being recuperated and rebuilt and the local winegrowers have joined forces in an association (Association of producers of
Refosco di Faedis) to enhance the value of the autochthonous wines. A rediscovery of the precious things contained in the combination of culture and territory is underway, a new horizon in which to set off on new journeys.