Not far from Gemona is Venzone, close to the Julian Prealps, declared a monument of great national historic and artistic interest in 1965 for being the only example of a fourteenth century walled city in Friuli. In 1976 a series of earthquakes severely damaged this wonderful town, bringing it to its knees, but the tenacity and courage of the Friulian people were greater than nature’s strength and Venzone was reborn after just 8 years, together with its Duomo, which became a symbol of the town’s reconstruction. In the crypt of San Michele adjacent to the Duomo, mummies from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries are preserved.

The Pumpkin Festival in October is also worth a mention, when Venzone is transformed into a town where maidens and knights entertain locals and visitors alike with singing, dancing and juggling. All served with the best pumpkin dishes of course! Venzone recently won the prize for the prettiest town in Italy for 2017, a rightful recognition of the reborn town as it was and where it was.