Castello di Buja

Probably the site of a Neolithic village, then a Castelliere settlement and later the site of Roman “Castrum Buga”, a settlement called “Boga” was mentioned for the first time in 792. In that year Emperor Charlemagne granted the chapel of San Lorenzo, situated inside the walls of the ancient castle, to Patriarch Paulinus II. The castle itself is explicitly mentioned in the Verona diploma of 11 June 983, when Emperor Otto II confirmed Patriarch Rodoald’s possession of the Buja fortress along with four other castles (Fagagna, Braitan, Gruagno and Udine).

During the 13th and 14th centuries Buja led a troubled life. In 1265 its property was granted to the Tricano (Arcano) family, later was passed to the Villalta family, the Varmo family, the Savorgnano family, the Prampero family, and then to Patriarch Gaston von Thurn (Gastone della Torre). It then became a feudal holding of the Church of Aquileia, and in 1341 Patriarch Bertram (Bertrando) de St. Geniès granted its administration to Vicardo di Colloredo. The castle, subject to numerous sieges, eventually returned to the Savorgnan family who kept it until 1797.