The Role in History

In 1025 the towered surrounding walls founded on the hill in the High Friuli region is a fief given by the Patriarch of Aquileia Poppone to one of his faithful followers to foster the strategic and economic development of the possessions entrusted to him in the context of the growing power of Holy Roman-German Empire in Italy. From the towers one could watch the roads beneath, getting the toll necessary to the maintenance of the passageways, and watch the agricultural works; the internal court was employed to store hardware tools and products.

After Conrad II allowed the inheritance of the minor fiefs (1037), the di Prampero Castle and the hill belonged to the same stock and its branches, a half as a possession, the other half subjected to the feudal laws.

The castle building itself, after the enlargements, became the house of the consortes (relatives of the family) and, at the same time, the headquarters of the giusdicente, i.e., the first-born male appointed by the Patriarch - and by the Venetian government, subsequently - with the renewal of the fief. Such an organization persisted until the suppression of the juridical institution of the fief by the Italian State in 1870.

At that time, the feudal part of the Castle and the hill were acquired by the brothers Antonino and Ottaviano di Prampero, thereby becoming a private property of the historical family, with an uninterrupted genealogy from the origin.