Pordenone


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General Information

Pordenone (Friulian: Pordenon) is a comune of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. The name comes from the latin "Portus Naonis" meaning the port on the river Noncello. Pordenone was created in the High Middle Ages as a river port on the Noncello, with the name Portus Naonis.

In the area, however, there were already villas and agricultural settlements in the Roman age. In 1378, after having been administrated by several feudataries, the city was handed over to the Habsburg family, forming an Austrian enclave within the territory of Patriarchate of Aquileia. In the 14th century Pordenone grew substantially due to the flourishing river trades, gaining the status of city in 1314.

In 1514 it was acquired by the Republic of Venice, under which a new port was built and the factories improved. After the Napoleonic collapse, Pordenone was included in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. The railway connection and the construction of the Pontebbana road caused the decline of the port, but spurred a substantial industrial development (especially for cotton). Pordenone was annexed to Italy in 1866.

The cotton sector, however, decayed after the destruction of World War I and the 1929 crisis, and eventually never recovered. After World War II, the local Zanussi company became a world giant for household appliances, and in 1968, Pordenone became capital of the province with the same name, including some territory belonging to Udine.

Source: Wikipedia