Ruda

The name of the ancient Riuda is most probably of Lombard-Germanic origin, and reliable sources put its founding in the seventh or eighth century. Then the Hungarians came and laid it waste; it was rebuilt by crusader knights, and that fits its position: Ruda lies seven kilometres from Aquileia, and in the Middle Ages it was one of the ways through for the pilgrims coming down from Germany towards the Holy Sepulchre. Friulian is still spoken here, in its Gorizian variety. Of what the centuries have left there remain the castle of Saciletto, Villa Iachia, the church of Santo Stefano at Ruda and that of Sant'Andrea at Perteole, where there is also the Amideria Chiozza, the old starch works.

Every two years the four borghi of the village challenge one another in the Palio dei Borghi: Brichis, Dota, Menteressa and Nordisa have it out in some fifteen contests. There is the cake competition and the dancing one, men's and women's football, basketball and volleyball, slingshot shooting, the fishing match, briscola, the mountain bike, games for the grown-ups and games for the children, and at the end the relay along the streets of the village. Some disciplines change from time to time: there has been the mechanical bull, and the pedalo race on the little lake of the Draga. The roll of honour has Menteressa in front with five wins, then Dota with three, Nordisa with two and Brichis, which won the first edition in 1996 and came back to win in 2023. In summer the football club puts on the Sagra dai Cros, where they eat fried frogs. And the village sings: it has two male polyphonic choirs and one for women.