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San Vito al Tagliamento

San Vito al Tagliamento is located in a strategic position, next to one of the main fords on the river Tagliamento. For this reason, it has played a relevant role in the history of the Friuli region since Roman times, but mostly since the early Middle Ages.

The area is inhabited since prehistoric times, due to the presence of the river and the so-called “Olle di risorgive”, natural water springs, which granted the most important resource: water.
During Roman times, there was a Villa Rustica, a little village ruled by a rich landowner. In the same location there probably was a station of the road that linked the nearby city of Concordia and the Noricus region (today Austria).

Archeologic findings tell us that the area kept being inhabited after the fall of the Roman Empire. In the X century, some sources mention the villages built after the invasion of the Hungarians, as the emperor Otto III gifted them to the Patriarch of Aquileia, the warrior-bishop who ruled Friuli. In 1182, the pope published a document in which he listed the properties of the nearby Sesto abbey, officially mentioning San Vito al Tagliamento for the first time ever.

Since that moment, San Vito had an ever-growing relevance. It became one of the favourite towns by the Patriarchs of Aquileia and it frequently hosted the Parliament of the Patriarchy in its loggia and castle. In 1420 the Republic of Venice conquered Friuli and San Vito developed a special relationship of friendship and loyalty to the Serenissima.
In the same century the Ottoman Turks’ raids terrified Friuli, but San Vito was one of the few towns which managed to hold them off, thanks to its walls and moats.

In 1797, after having conquered Friuli, Napoleon signed the treaty of Campoformido, handing over the territories of the Republic of Venice to the Habsburgs of Austria. During the XIX century San Vito kept growing, becoming the second largest municipality in Friuli. In 1866 San Vito became part of the kingdom of Italy and kept expanding, slowly taking its present-day form.

During the first world war, after the defeat of Caporetto in 1917, San Vito became one of the headquarters of the Austrian army, due to its position near the Tagliamento river. Similarly, the city was occupied by nazis after the armistice on 8^th September 1943, during the second world war. Between 30^th April and 1^st May 1945, the town was liberated.

Today, San Vito is a quiet, medium-sized town which rarely makes the news, but if you look closely, the streets of the centre can still tell the stories of the many artists, scientists and politicians who lived on this land.