Castelliere di Lauco

According to historian Tito Miotti, the village of Lauco was once the site a prehistoric fortified village known as “castelliere”. Castellieri were fairly common in ancient Friuli. This how Miotti describes them: “Walls were 4 to 5 m in height and were mostly made of small roughly-cut stones. Sometimes there were three or four different circles of walls, which did not rise above the level of the terraced ground. The thickness of the walls varied between 0.5 and 1.5 m.”

Another historian, Carla Scagnetti, is certain of the exixtence of a Medieval castle in the area: “According to oral tradition, there was a castle in the territory of Lauco, which was known as Somcolle.” This castle has been contended for by many nearby hamlets such as Avaglio, Vinaio, and Allegnidis, on the basis of local place names such as Cjasteons (from the Friulian word cjistiel, meaning castle) and Cuel (meaning hill). According to Miotti, the castle was situated in locality Langanie (Laucianie) where there are some ruins, but others believe that the remains of castle Somcolle lie directly under the village of Lauco. As a matter of fact, in the village there is a fragment of a wall which appears to be part of an earlier fortification; also, in the local museum in Tolmezzo there is a caraffe bearing this inscription: “Francesco Felice (di Cella di Ovaro) fece lano 1875 adì 21 agosto nelle pertinenze della fortezza della Zità di Lauco.” “Francesco Felice (from Cella near Ovaro) made this on 21 August 1875 in the estate of the fortress of the town of  Lauco”