Friulian revolt of 1511

That was the last act of a clash that had been dragged on for some time now between the inhabitants of Virco, Flambro, and Sivigliano against the aristocratic Colloredo family, the owners of the castle, accused of usurping the community's pastures and woods for their own advantage.

It was the event that raised the public opinion as for various years all the region was shaken by disputes and skirmishes stirred up by the peasants against the nobility, their families, soldiers, servants, or their representatives (clashes occurred with Spilimbergo, Maniago, Valvasone, Portogruaro, Colloredo, Tarcento).

This protection system intentionally created a real clan, whose members became known as zamberlani, who were identified with the charismatic figure of Antonio Savorgnan, so close the Venetian rulers as to be nominated general commander of the cernide, the armed peasants' militias (called up in case of war).

On 27 February 1511, Fat Thursday, Antonio Savorgnan allegedly staged an Imperial attack against Udine, using the Cividalian soldiers led by his nephew Alvise da Porto, and calling on the people to defend the city.

Then the rebels put on the nobles' clothes, staging a macabre masquerade and imitating the ways of the original owners, actually embodying the spirit of "inversion of roles" typical of a carnival.

The strumieri's troops reorganized close to the castle of Giulio di Porcia, gaining the support of the men of the Venetian ruler of Pordenone, of some Sacilians and of about 800 inhabitants of the Concordia Sagittaria zone.

The Venetian government established a special tribunal that condemned to death the main exponents of the revolt, but failed to adjudicate the real culprit, Antonio Savorgnan who, given the overall negative outcome, paradoxically found shelter among the Imperial's ranks which he had so long opposed to, in Villach, in the Austrian territory.

[2] Yet Antonio Savorgnan's death kicked off both the revenge and the retaliation triggered by the Fat Thursday's events that erased by now the revolt's collective dimension and acquired a feud's and settlement of personal accounts' character.