Between 1257 and 1270 Pordenone was conquered by Ottokar II of Bohemia, who was eventually defeated in 1277, when the city was brought back to the Empire, under Rodolph I of Habsburg.

In 1278, after having been administered by several feudatories, the city was handed over to the Habsburg family, forming an Austrian enclave within the territory of the Patriarchal State of Friuli.

In the 14th century, Pordenone grew substantially due to the flourishing river trades, gaining the status of city in December 1314.

After World War II, Pordenone, as well as the rest of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, became a garrison for many military units, in order to prevent a socialist Yugoslavian invasion from the east.

The territory of Pordenone is located in the lowlands of the Po-Venetian Valley, south of Venetian Prealps and the Alpine foothills of Friuli.

The ten largest ethnic minorities are listed as follows:[9] The town has many mansions and palaces, in particular along the ancient "Greater Contrada", today Corso Vittorio Emanuele II (wonderful example of Venetian porticoes and called by some small "waterless Grand Canal").

[14] Pordenone is home to the Ottavio Bottecchia Stadium, on via dello Stadio, a multipurpose 3,000-seats facility once serving as a soccer field for the local team, Pordenone Calcio which is now playing at Stadio Omero Tognon, stadium of the city of Fontanafredda, and still as velodrome used for both national and international track cycling competitions.

This industrial town in Friuli has put on a new dress and got rid of its past Cinderella image and its ugly duckling complex.

Pordenone now banks on culture, also to bring together people from more than one-hundred ethnic groups living in town Pordenone has hosted every year, for more than a decade, the book festival pordenonelegge.it, which includes book stalls being placed all over the town center, as well as interviews with Italian and international authors and lectures by journalists and scholars.

[22][23] Notable guests over the years include Kool & the Gang, Steve Hackett, Rival Sons, Anastacia, Ronnie Jones and Ana Popović.

Performers playing at this festival include artists based in Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Spain, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary and other countries.

Located in the Pastoral Activities Centre, designed by Othmar Barth (1988), retains a remarkable artistic heritage from churches and religious buildings of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Concordia-Pordenone.

In it houses works by various painters, such as Pordenone, P. Amalteo, Varotari, Pietro della Vecchia, O. Politi and Michelangelo Grigoletti.

Of particular significance are the finds from the caves Pradis and pile-dwelling (or stilt house) of Palù di Livenza (UNESCO World Heritage Site – Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps).

In its rooms it houses paintings by Mario Sironi, Renato Guttuso, Corrado Cagli, Alberto Savinio, Filippo De Pisis, Giuseppe Zigaina, Armando Pizzinato and many others.