The
present appearance of the Church
of San
Giorgio
goes back to the 18th century,
but the church's origins are
older. It has a longitudinal
plan, with a single aisle and a
polygonal apse. Inside there is a
handsome 16th-century baptismal
font attributed to Pietro da
Carona.
The
Church of San Giorgio was built
in the XVII century. It shows a
bell-tower included in the
building and it ends with four
pyramidal pinnacles with angular
vertexes.
The
plan shows the peculiarity of
having a nave orthogonally
inserted on the right side of the
main nave.
Inside it keeps numerous works of
art among which two canvases of
the XVII century, that
of
Madonna del Rosario con i Santi
Domenicani e Francescani (Our Lady of
Rosary together with Domenican and
Franciscan Saints) and that of the Padre
Eterno e Immacolata (The Eternal and
Immaculate). Very beautiful is also the
wooden XVIIIth-century statue of
Immaculate. In the historic center of
Clauiano the oldest buildings go back to
the 15th cent. and are located mostly near
the Church of S. Giorgio and on Via Borgo
S. Martino.
Buildings
from the 17th and 18th centuries are more
numerous. Their style is essentially that
of the typical Friulian house: the main
entrance facing the street, a splendid
stone doorway and an inside courtyard.
Each house has its own history, which can
be best learned by going to see it. Casa
Gardellini, built in the 15th cent. and
considered the oldest in town, has a white
and red decoration with diamond patterns
on its façade.
Villa
Ariis represents the typical 18th-century
master's residence in the Veneto-Friuli
area, composed of a house, rustic
outbuildings and a large vegetable garden
enclosed by a crenellated wall with two
stone columns. The façade has a
stone portal, over which is a mullioned
window and, above that, the Lion of St.
Mark. The two stone patere at the sides of
the first story are perhaps the
remembrance of ancient libations to a
deity.
The
complex of buildings that form Casa
Palladino is situated inside a typical
18th-century Friulian yard that preserves
its original characteristics. The layout
is in the shape of a Z, on two courtyards,
on which there are houses, outbuildings,
and the master's house. Particular
decorative elements include the typical
Venetian-style fireplace, the colonnade of
the loggia, the sundial on the
façade, the stone column that
supports the portico in front of the
stable, the stone basins of the sink and
in the yards, and the fireplaces in the
granary used to warm the rooms where
silkworms were raised.
The nearby
Casa Bellotto was built in 1791 and has an
exposed brick façade and an arched
stone doorway. The complex of the Bosco
residence was transformed into its current
state in the 18th cent.; the
façades of the rustic buildings
have geometric decorations and writing
from the 16th century. Casa Foffani is a
townhouse from the 1800s with 18th-century
stuccoed ceilings. The rustic buildings
were used in the 1700s for making and
storing wine (which is still done today),
tobacco, and grain for raising silkworms.
Villa
Manin is a fine 18th-century residence of
a noble family of the Friulian plain. It
belonged to one of the most important
families of Venice, known also for its
stately villa in Passariano, and was a
large production center, as can be seen by
the buildings used for agricultural
purposes, including the foledôr, the
enormous wine cellar next to the main
residence. The villa is classical in
style, and is preceded by an "honor
court." Here, as elsewhere - Casa Menotti,
Casa de Checo, Casa Marcuzzi Zanuttini,
Casa Zof Piano - the splendid portals and
stone-framed windows bear witness to the
dignity of the place and the
people.
