Frisanco

Orange Flag of the Italian Touring Club

With woods and streams, unspoilt nature and the greenery of the Còlvera valley in the Dolomiti Friulane Natural Park, Frisanco is a municipality with several small villages that still preserve and value their particular rural architecture.

Especially not to be missed is the village of Poffabro, a pearl of Friulian mountain architecture, with its well-preserved 16th-17th century layout, tall, narrow sandstone houses with arches, courtyards, porticoes, alleyways and balconies embellished in summer with the colours of geraniums. Worth seeing, in the beautiful Piazza XX Settembre, are the parish church of San Nicolò (17th century) and the Park Visitor Centre housed in the former dairy and dedicated to the art of cheese-making and to life and work in the alpine pastures. The Scarpeti Association preserves and promotes the history of the valley by organising events, meetings and a permanent exhibition of local handicrafts, where you can admire traditional wooden artefacts, Friulian scarpeti, embroidery and sewing work by local women.

In the main town of Frisanco, Piazzetta Pognici should be seen, with the 17th-century Palazzo Pognici and, in the old dairy, the 'Da li mans di Carlin' (From Carlin's Hands) exhibition, with a 1:10 scale reconstruction of rural life in the past, made by a local craftsman in love with the area, and the parish church of Sante Fosca and Maura, mentioned in records dating back to 1492.

In the area, several trails, walks and hikes with various levels of difficulty let you discover Val Còlvera: we particularly recommend the Landris nature trail, ideal for getting to know the Park's unique fauna, vegetation, landscape and rocks.

The abundant but simple cuisine offers typical dishes such as fricassee, brovada and muset (monkfish in vinegar and wine with cotechino), game specialities and pitina, meat that is ground, flavoured and then preserved by smoking, to be eaten cooked or raw.

From mid-December to mid-January, 'Poffabro, Presepe tra i Presepi' is an atmospheric event (see it at night!) with about a hundred cribs distributed in unusual places around the historic centre. In July, there is Brocante, an international festival of contemporary circus, not to be missed by young and old alike.