Latisana
Encyclopedia
Latisana is a town and comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in the province of Udine
Province of Udine
The Province of Udine is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia. Its capital is the city of Udine....

, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli–Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,858 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is...

 region of north-eastern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, on the Tagliamento river.

History

The city was probably a Roman post station on the Via Annia
Via Annia
The Via Annia was the consular Roman road through Cisalpine Gaul which linked Atria to Aquileia, passing through Patavium , then, skirting the barely-inhabited lagoon, through Altinum and Iulia Concordia...

 which connected Concordia
Concordia Sagittaria
Concordia Sagittaria is a town and comune in the province of Venezia, Veneto, Italy.-History:The town was founded in 42 BC as Iulia Concordia by the Romans, where the Via Annia and the Via Postumia crossed each other...

 to Aquileia
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...

.

The city is first mentioned in 1072, and became an important river port in the 12-13th centuries, especially known for salt trade, under the counts of Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...

. In the 12th century it became an autonomous commune, annexed by the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 in 1420.

The trade declined in the late years of the Republic of Venice, and the city was acquired by the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 with the Treaty of Campo Formio
Treaty of Campo Formio
The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 18 October 1797 by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of revolutionary France and the Austrian monarchy...

 (1797). In 1814 it became part of the client Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and, in 1866, of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.

During the 20th century wars it suffered heavy damage, especially in the bombing of May 19, 1944 that totally destroyed the historical centre. Further damage was caused by the floods of the Tagliamento in 1965 and 1966.

Main sights

The Cathedral (Duomo
Duomo
Duomo is a term for a cathedral church. The formal word for a church that is presently a cathedral is cattedrale; a Duomo may be either a present or a former cathedral . Some, like the Duomo of Monza, have never been cathedrals, although old and important...

) was rebuilt in the 17th century over the old 1504 edifice. The main attractions are the canvas portraying the Baptism of Jesus (1567) by Paolo Veronese
Paolo Veronese
Paolo Veronese was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at Cana and The Feast in the House of Levi...

and a wooden Crucifix (1566) by Andrea Fosco. The choir has a Transfiguration (1591) by Marco Moro and the first altar on the left has a Holy Family with Saints by Giovan Battista Grassi (1568).
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