Friuli-Venezia Giulia · Pordenone
Spilimbergo
A 132-meter Friulian town on the Tagliamento, home since 1922 to the Scuola Mosaicisti.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Spilimbergo is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Borgo dei Borghi.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 39 min from Udine
- Population
- 11,773
- J8°
- F11°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S25°
- O19°
- N14°
- D9°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Spilimbergo takes its name from the castrum de Spengenberg, built by Carinthian counts who came south as vassals of the Patriarch of Aquileia. Their fortress anchors one end of a centro storico that reads as a sequence of additions: the Romanesque-Gothic cathedral raised through the fourteenth century, the painted palace that later hosted Charles V, Bona Sforza, and Henry III of France, and Corso Roma running between frescoed palazzi to the old market stone still used to measure trade. The Scuola Mosaicisti, founded in 1922, is the newest of these layers but the one that has carried the town's name furthest, its work turning up at the Foro Italico, the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the World Trade Center station, in a Friulian craft line that had already reached the Library of Congress.
The Folkest folk-music festival runs every July, and the town carries Borghi più belli and Borgo dei Borghi finalist recognition. Outside it, the Tagliamento broadens into the braided, three-kilometer bed that gives the town its setting on the right bank. A place, in sum, where a medieval frontier post and a twentieth-century craft school have ended up equally responsible for putting Spilimbergo on a map.
How to get there
From Treviso (TSF), about 1 h 22 min by car.
Verona (VRN) is about 2 h 42 min away.
By car from the center of Udine 39 min or Trieste 1 h 34 min.
Coming by train into Venezia Santa Lucia? Spilimbergo is about 1 h 29 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Treviso airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello di Spilimbergo
Fortress of the Spengenberg counts, first recorded in 1120, burned in 1511 and rebuilt in Renaissance form; the palace with the painted façade survived.
Palazzo Dipinto
The frescoes cover prancing horses, ladies, pages, and figures of the Theological and Cardinal virtues across the fifteenth-century façade.
Duomo di Santa Maria Maggiore
Romanesque-Gothic cathedral begun in 1284 by Walterpertoldo of Spilimbergo, with presbytery frescoes by the Maestro dei Padiglioni from 1350 to 1380.
Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli
Over 800 student and master works are displayed across the school's halls, a collection the school calls the most important of its kind in the world.
Tagliamento riverbed
The braided channels spread out near the town in a bed that has kept its natural, unmodified form.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
La TorreRistorante
La Torre holds two Gambero Rosso forks (82/100) and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Osteria da AfroRistorante
Osteria da Afro carries a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Spilimbergo meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 11,773 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Pordenone, a city of 52,314, is 34 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 11,773, down 1.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Pordenone, 34 min drive
- A national health service hospital in the comune · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €830 to €1,150 per m² to buy, €2.60 to €5.00 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 42% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Trieste airport (TRS), 1 h 5 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Trieste, 1 h 34 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
13% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Albania, Burkina Faso and Romania, against 9% across Italy. 19 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly France and Germany. There are 227 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 17% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Pordenone province ranks 24th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
There is an emergency room in the comune. The nearest major one is in Udine, 27 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Pordenone, 26 km away. The nearest IB school is UWC Adriatic, 66 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Udine International School, 25 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
Friuli Venezia Giulia has its own property tax, ILIA, in place of IMU. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Friuli-Venezia Giulia spends about €2,350 a month, €520 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €478 a year for water, on the Friuli-Venezia Giulia average. In Pordenone, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.38, a meal in a pizzeria €12.63 and a man's haircut €25.56.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 4% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 4% in a high or medium one. They show no residents in a high landslide zone.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
MOSAIC SCHOOL
The Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli has trained mosaicists since 1922; its work includes the Saetta Iridescente mosaic at the Ground Zero station.
PALAZZO DIPINTO
Bellunello frescoed the entire façade around 1480; the palace later hosted Charles V, Bona Sforza, and Henry III of France.
TAGLIAMENTO
The river runs three kilometers wide here in braided channels, considered the last morphologically intact river in the Alps.
Common questions
- What is Spilimbergo known for?
- Spilimbergo is a 132-meter Friulian town on the Tagliamento, home since 1922 to the Scuola Mosaicisti.
- Where is Spilimbergo?
- Spilimbergo is a comune in the province of Pordenone, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, at 132 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Spilimbergo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Trieste (TRS), about 1 h 5 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Udine to Spilimbergo?
- About 39 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Spilimbergo?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Spilimbergo?
- Pieve di Soligo, Marostica and Vittorio Veneto.
- How many people live in Spilimbergo?
- 11,773 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Spilimbergo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Spilimbergo is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Pordenone, is 34 min away by car. There is a national health service hospital in the comune. Full fibre reaches 42% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 132 m
- Population: 11,773
- Surface area: 71.88 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Spilimbergo appears in
- The best hill towns that eat well in Friuli-Venice GiuliaFriuli-Venezia Giuliahill towneats well6 towns · smallest 588 residents
- The best hill towns within 45 minutes of UdineNear Udinehill townwithin 45 min6 towns · smallest 6,048 residents · closest 20 min away
- The prettiest villages in the province of PordenonePordenone provinceprettiest villages6 towns · smallest 588 residents
- The prettiest villages that eat well in Friuli-Venice GiuliaFriuli-Venezia Giuliaeats wellprettiest villages6 towns · smallest 588 residents
- The 9 best towns with a serious restaurant in Friuli-Venice GiuliaFriuli-Venezia Giuliaserious restaurant9 towns · smallest 390 residents
- The best hill towns in Friuli-Venice GiuliaFriuli-Venezia Giuliahill town9 towns · smallest 588 residents
Similar
Towns like Spilimbergo
What all six share with Spilimbergo: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people · near sea level
The letter
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