Articles

Ippolito Nievo (Padua 1831-Tyrrhenian Sea 1861) was a writer and a patriot. His mother’s mother, Ippolita di Colloredo, belonged to a Friulian noble family. Aged 14, the writer chose to be called Ippolito among a long list of names he had been christened with. At the time of Nievo, Friuli was still a land of castles, feudal traditions and strong contrast, something he extensively described in his masterpiece “Confessions of an Italian”. Beside the castle of Colloredo, his grandmother’s family also owned the castle of Fratta – his best-known literary site – by then actually a modest residence, more similar to a country manor than a castle, surrounded by weak walls.

On the hills of Friuli stands the Castle of Colloredo erected in the 14th century. Its destination as a residence soon prevailed over its defensive needs, so that the original fortress was turned into an articulated set of buildings. The interiors were decorated by painter Giovanni da Udine. The castle was the place where poet IPPOLITO NIEVO, a member of the noble family who owned the castle, Counts Colloredo Mels, used to spend his holidays and where he wrote his leading work, “Confessions of an Italian” between 1857 and 1858. In this literary transposition of his life, the castle is the epitome of a civilization that had already been dispersed and the custodian of high moral values that had been lost. The castle of Colloredo, while described as the mythical castle of Fratta in the book, one that had already been demolished by then, is a clear inspiration to Nievo. In a famous passage of the novel, the 80-year old main character, Carlo Altoviti, who makes his confessions through the pages, recalls he had never seen in his numerous travels “any building that drew on the ground such an odd layout, or had so many corners, recesses, niches and protrusions that all the cardinal and intermediate points of a wind rose could become proud of”.  The castle of Colloredo was also home to other literary men from the same family, including ERMES DI COLLOREDO, the most renowned poet in Friulian language, and FRA’ CIRO DI PERS. Not far from this castle, several other castles stand on a strategic position on the surrounding hilltops:  Susans, Ragogna, Rive d'Arcano, Villalta.