Farra d'Isonzo (; sl, Fara ob Soči; fur, Fare; Southeastern Friulian: ) is an Italian ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the region of

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

History

Facade of the Palazzo Municipale of Farra d'Isonzo

The name "Farra" is of Lombard origin, and derives from "''Fara''", meaning "a stronghold held by individual families or clans". The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

later had a "'' statio''"—or courier relay point—here, near which they built a bulky bridge on the Isonzo river in a place called Mainizza to improve communications with the eastern territories. It was on this strategic bridge that the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

, the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the larg ...

, the

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and ...

, the Avari, the

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

, the

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

and the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

would later pass to invade the empire.

Economy

Today Farra is still a thriving center for the numerous

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

s that cover its vast territory. The old agricultural features of the landscape can still be seen in the urban layout of the locality, that includes numerous villages and the two smaller towns of Mainizza and Villanova.

Main sights

The palace of Calice (1728) stands out next to the modern buildings that were rebuilt after the war. It is the administrative seat of the ''

'' and housed important landowners' villas. An intense and lively cultural life has developed here, and there are numerous institutions like the centre dedicated the poet

Riccardo Pitteri Riccardo is a male given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other me ...

, who wrote about this country and chose it as a summer resort. There is also a retirement home, and in Borgo Grotta there is a museum documenting the agricultural society of the region of

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...

. In Borgo Zuppini stands the 17th-century Church of the Immaculate Conception, built by Count Giovanni Battista Zuppini between 1665 and 1669. It is the oldest church in the archidiocese named after the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

Observatory

The Farra d'Isonzo Observatory ( it, Osservatorio Astronomico di Farra d'Isonzo, link=no, obs.code: 595), where

minor planets According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

have been discovered, and a town library are among the other facilities found there. For several years there has been a renowned musical academy here, promoting an annual chamber music competition for young musicians of the

Alpe-Adria Alpe-Adria is a bioregion in Central Europe, embracing all of Slovenia, the Austrian states of Carinthia and Styria, and the Italian regions of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia and Veneto. , it is the subject of a proposal to create the world's first organic ...

, and various concerts are held in the splendid chamber of the parochial oratory. Among other music is the "''Gruppo Vocale''", a men's choir of recent origin, but already boasting an impressive series of successes with its repertory of classical, popular and religious music.

References

External links

Circolo Culturale Astronomico di Farra d'Isonzo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farra D'isonzo Cities and towns in Friuli-Venezia Giulia