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SAN FLORIANO DEL COLLIO

On a crisp Autumn day of 1181, Ermelinda, the abbess of the Benedictine convent in Aquileia, together with her followers, reached the small town of San Floriano located on the lowest rise of the Collio. She wanted to acquire more properties in favour of the convent, and as the farmers living in the small town were still free from the feudal bounds, they sold some vineyards and fields to her.

The names borne by San Floriano inhabitants, which were handed on from the Chartarium Monasterii Aquileiensis, proudly recall the barbarian origins of their slavic forefathers : Bizlau, Stogian, Budin, Zdebor... Between the 5th and the 6th centuries their ancestors had settled in the Collio and revived the ancient Roman sites. After the conversion to Christianity, the town had inherited the name from Saint Floriano, a very old faith bound to the fertility of fields and vineyards and to the fertility rites of Spring, which was symbolized by water, a traditional feature of the Saint.

So the vine-growing has developed with the town to the present day. An archaeological site located at the foot of the hill of San Floriano, ¥teverjan in Slovenian language, witnesses the presence of a Roman villa villa rustica dating back to the Augustus age. Slightly northwards lies the Dvor estate recalling the first ruling family of the town, the Dornberg, who since the 1300s have kept for themselves ten percent of the grape harvest. As a consequence, the disputes between the inhabitants and the town rulers during the grape harvests were always riotous and violent.

The Dvor building and the chapel with a severe Baroque interior, (the Slovenian word Dvor means Court) belonged to the Strassoldo and then to the Tacco families. In the 1600s the Formentini family from Cividale moved to the tabor on top of the hill. This was a fortified building to defend the family from the turks and the Veneto people. In that area, in ancient times lay the church of San Floriano, which was restored during the Baroque age. It collapsed during the first World War and rebuilt in Romanesque style in 1926. The church also featured a towering bell tower of Aquileian style. Some events celebrated today go back to the religious Aquileian tradition, such as the procession of the saints Ermacora and Fortunato, which takes place during mid July. It is a sort of fertility or propitiatory rite, a procession walking through the vineyards, praying for a good harvest. In Autumn, after the feast of San Martino, the renowned white wines of San Floriano, such as Tocai, Ribolla and Malvasia, are available for the many visitors who arrive every year from far and wide to enjoy a day or more of the hospitality offered by San Floriano, in this peaceful atmosphere disturbed only by the continuous renewal of nature.