Culture
Sereni Orizzonti for culture
Sereni Orizzonti 1 S.p.a. supports culture as a development opportunity for the area in which it is rooted.
Proof of this are the opera singing and classical music concerts that the group organises in the splendid setting of Palazzo Pontoni Blasoni, purchased in 2006, one of Udine's most beautiful historical buildings, included in the Fai circuit.
In September 2012, the Group purchased and made available to the city Palazzo Kechler in Piazza XX Settembre, the only example of pure neoclassical style in Udine. The company's intention is to turn it into a point of reference for cultural associations and local artists.
Since 1 November 2016, Sereni Orizzonti's headquarters have been located in Palazzo Beretta, a prestigious building in the ancient contrada of Santa Maria Maddalena, now Via Vittorio Veneto, which encompasses the area as far as Via San Francesco.
The former residence, dating back to the 16th century, occupied the current area, bordering the Locale Erariale to the south and the Calle del Teatro Vecchio to the west. In 1886, the palace was chosen as the second seat of the Union Society and the city's most admired and original festivities until the beginning of World War II. From 1976, for 29 years, the palace was the seat of the Extraordinary General Secretariat of the Region, a fundamental operational structure that accompanied the rebirth of Friuli after the 1976 earthquake.
Rooms of refined elegance display precious pictorial and stucco decorations of excellent taste. Frescoes assigned to Giulio Quaglio, who used very different colour values here than in his other works. The decoration of the walls is almost entirely entrusted to Venetian stucco motifs, now attributed as in the luxuriant plant friezes or in the cornices of the damask mirrors, now subdued, almost drawn on the walls with a light trend.
Pontoni-Blasoni
Located on the corner of Via Aquileia and Via Piave, Palazzo Pontoni Blasoni is one of the most important historical buildings in Udine.
Its history dates back to the early 1500s, when Giacomo Frangipane di Castello had his house built on the land between Gorghi (today Via Piave) and Via Aquileia.
In later centuries, the district became the property of important Friulian families, first the Counts Valvason of Maniago and later the Colloredo of Mels.
Of particular historical and artistic significance is the palace's 20th-century exterior gate, with statues placed on pillars, attributed to sculptor Orazio Marinali (Agarano 1653 - Vicenza 1720).
In the early 20th century, based on a design by Luigi Taddio, the building's façade took on its current neo-Renaissance-Liberty aesthetic.
Inside the palace, which also houses works by Giovanni da Udine, one can admire important frescoes by 'pittor modanese' Giuseppe Morelli (1749-1829) and his Cividale pupil Francesco Chiarottini (1748-1796).
Located at the corner of Via Aquileia and Via Piave, Palazzo Pontoni is one of the most important historical buildings in the city of Udine.
It dates back to the early 1500s when Giacomo Frangipane di Castello built his house on the land between the Gorghi (now Via Piave) and Via Aquileia.
Giuseppe Japelli designed a majestic and elegant three-storey building that would serve as a luxurious home for the Antivari family, but which could also meet the family's business needs.
The building acquired its current neo-Renaissance style facade in the early 20th century, designed by Luigi Taddio.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the palace hosted influential personalities such as the French Prime Minister Aristide Briand and the famous American writer Ernest Hemingway, who had a long and sincere friendship with the brothers Federico, Carlo and Alberto Kechler.
Today the palace is owned by the Sereni Orizzonti group and congresses, conferences, art exhibitions and gala dinners are organised there.
