Borgo di Santa Margherita del Gruagno (Moruzzo)

The seat of an important Lombard arimannia (fief), it was probably established to control the important Via Cividina which ran from Cividale, intersecting the road to Concordia near the village of Fagagna. The locality was first mentioned in a Lombard document dated May 762, by which Erfus, Antus and Marcus assigned the vineyards of Gruagno  (“vinea Grobanges”) to the Monastery of Salt and the Abbey of Sesto. In 983 Emperor Otto II granted the feudal holding of this castle and of those of Udine, Braitan, Fagagna and Buia to Rodoald, Patriarch of Aquileia. Cited in different documents (in 1176 “apud Groang”, in 1184 “apud Gruans”, in 1238 “de Grovanis”), on 4 May 1290 the fortress with its nearby parish was granted by Patriarch Raimond von Thurn (Raimondo della Torre) to the Chapter of the Church of Aquileia. On 12 July 1314 the estate was mentioned again as part of the truce between Nicolò di Brazzacco and Varnerio di Castellerio. Subjected to the jurisdiction of the Lords of Fagagna, the castle eventually lost its strategic importance.