Rocca di Monte Quarin (Cormons)

“Patriarcha sedit in Cormoro per annos 200”. This is how a document from the year 1159 describes the happiest period, historically speaking, of Cormons. This information, however, is inaccurate. According to authoritative scholars, the seat of the Patriarchate remained in Cormons from 610, when it was established in this locality by Patriarch Iohannes, to 735, when Patriarch Callistus moved it to Cividale.

The first Cormons castle, located on Monte Quarin, dates back to Prehistoric times; it later became a Celtic village and then a Roman castrum. Around the 10th century a second castle was erected, close to the original fortress; meanwhile a village developed at the foot of the mountain, which was for a long period of time disputed between the Patriarchs and the Counts of Gorizia. In the 12th century the village was fortified with two circles of walls, of which some ruins remain; in 1497 it passed to Austria and in 1511 was occupied by Venetian troops, who destroyed the castle and later began the reconstruction of the fortress. The remaining original elements indicate that the ancient fortress had a circular shape.