CARNIA Art & Culture among museums, villages, art exhibitions, ancient churches, tradition and gastronomy

Individual arrival in TOLMEZZO, capital of Carnia, Alpine city of the year 2017.

Free time to individually visit the historic center that preserves traces of a fifteenth-century urban system, visible in the neighborhood of “Borgat”, with the Porta di Sotto, the church of Santa Caterina and Casa Janesi. From here you can reach Torre Picotta, the last bastion of the fortifications, with a walk of about 30 minutes to admire the panorama up to the Friulian Dolomites. Do not miss the 18th century Duomo di San Martino overlooking Piazza XX Settembre, designed by the architect tolmezzino Domenico Schiavi. It houses valuable frescoes by Nicola Grassi, commissioned by Jacopo Linussio, an extraordinary textile entrepreneur, and his weaving mill employed 33,000 people, helping to drive the economy of the 18th century, a true golden age for Carnia.

Accommodation in 3-star hotels in Tolmezzo or surroundings.

Overnight stay in hotel
You can rent a car at the airport/ train station, see surcharges.

In the morning guided tour of the Carnic Museum of Folk Arts in Tolmezzo, housed in the seventeenth-century Palazzo Campeis, one of the most important ethnographic museums in Europe. In its thirty rooms you can admire the kitchen with the “fogolâr”, the room with cupboards and carved boxes, the dining room, the workshops of craftsmen, folk costumes, handicrafts of weaving Linussio, and the rich collection of portraits that animate the walls of the Museum. A hall, entirely dedicated to popular religiosity, also documents this aspect of fundamental importance in the daily life of the Carnic people. Among the curiosities, a very rich collection of masks and a valuable collection of musical instruments.

In the afternoon continue to ILLEGIO, a village near Tolmezzo now home for years of exhibitions of international level, to visit the exhibition “Wealth. Perennial dilemma”, open until 9 November,

The 2025 exhibition explores the concept of wealth as value, temptation and responsibility. A fascinating journey through masterpieces of art, from the Middle Ages to the present day, reflects on the profound sense of ownership, sharing and desire. Between religious symbols, scenes of power and modern visions, the exhibition invites the visitor to question what it means to be really rich. A universal and always current theme, approached with critical and aesthetic gaze. An exhibition that combines beauty and reflection, in the heart of Carnia.

52 masterpieces covering five centuries of art history, including works by Caravaggio, Titian, Rembrandt, Pieter Brueghel and Picasso.

We suggest a walk through the streets of Illegio to discover the ancient houses, the picturesque road of mills and climb up to the Church of San Floriano, one of the oldest in Carnia, located on a rocky spur, front to that of San Pietro.

Breakfast and overnight at hotel

In the morning excursion to PESARIIS charming village located in the Valley of time, where you can admire between the streets of the village 15 large clocks, each with its own operating system: turbine water, water tilting vessels, the clock of the planets, the chessboard clock, the water clock, the giant palette clock, the planisphere and night clock, the giant perpetual calendar clock. Entrance to the museum of the Pesarina Clock and Watch Museum which testifies 300 years of history of this activity.

In the afternoon you will reach CERCIVENTO to admire the mosaics, murals, frescoes that have transformed into a village in “Una Bibbia a Cielo Aperto”. Walking through the streets of the village reveal to the visitor the images of biblical passages that mark the path of man. Arrival in SUTRIO, a characteristic village with stone houses and cobbled streets, famous for carving craftsmen and wood carving.

Dinner in a typical tavern with tasting menu to taste the “Cjarsons”, typical ravioli with a sweet and salty flavor.

Breakfast and overnight at hotel
Dinner tasting in restaurant at SUTRIO

Morning available, we suggest you to visit the Church of San Pietro placed in a strategic position on a hill overlooking the valley of the Bût and honored today with the title of Cathedral of the other eleven parishes present in Carnia. This condition of submission is remembered every year, on the occasion of the feast of Ascension, with the evocative rite of the “Kiss of the Crosses”. Visit of the ancient mother church, an enchanting gothic building that houses one of the most spectacular wooden altars in Carnia, by Domenico da Tolmezzo. In conclusion we will visit the Polse of Cougnes, ecumenical center of reception, spirituality, culture and environment and the botanical garden “Garden of the simple” where more than 1000 different species of plants are visible.

End of services

Breakfast in the hotel
Possibility to extend your stay with other visits in the valleys of Carnia

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