Castello di Tricesimo

The Latin name of Tricesimo (Tricesimum o Tricensimum, meaning thirtieth) refers to the fact that it was originally a Roman settlement lying 30 miles to the north of Aquileia, controlling the road to Noricus, (now Austria). The settlement was first mentioned in the third century AD by the Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, but probably dates back to an earlier period. The existence of a castle in this location was first documented in the 13th century; originally belonging to the Counts of Tricesimo, at the end of the 13th century it came under the direct jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Aquileia. After 1420 the castle was administered by a Venetian captain; it later passed through the hands of various families. From the Counts of Montegnacco, who held it for over a century, it passed to the Valentinis, who kept it from 1627 to 1948; then it was ceded to a Catholic organization. The castle was frequently redeveloped over the centuries - most importantly by the Pramperos e and the Montegnaccos, who commissioned the fresco by Pomponio Amalteo  contained in the chapel, and by the Valentinis, who extensively remodelled it in the 16th and 19th centuries.