Pasiano di Pordenone

Until 1419 the territory was a fief of the Da Prata family, who lost it when the Republic of Venice defeated them and confiscated their goods; in civil matters it depended on the patriarch's castle of Meduna. What is known precisely is the date on which the old form of self-government ended: in 1819, under the provisions of a circular, the third-class comune replaced the general convocation of the estimati, that is the assembly of those on the tax register, with a town council — and it was left without an office of its own. In a village of this size there are seven Venetian villas under protection: one, at Rivarotta, was built on the ruins of a thirteenth-century Camaldolese monastery, another, of the sixteen hundreds, is today the town hall. In its entrance stands the bronze bust of Gasparo Gozzi, whose family had a house at Visinale: the town theatre is named after him.

The name is a prediale, that is, it comes from the estate of a Roman called Pacilius — the same name that stands behind Pasian di Prato, on the other side of the Friulian plain. But people have explained it in many other ways: by the surname Pase, by a peace supposedly signed here, by passus amnis, the crossing of the river, and even by phasianum, the pheasant. The second half of the name, on the other hand, is recent: the specification di Pordenone was made official in 1968, when the province was created. Down here the Livenza meets the Meduna. And since the nineteen seventies Pasiano, together with Prata and Brugnera, has formed what people call the furniture triangle: three neighbouring comuni that live by making furniture. From here comes the film director Damiano Damiani.