What is Polcenigo known for?

The river surfaces here from the Cansiglio limestone aquifer; the Gorgazzo spring drops past 212 meters, deepest in Italy. UNESCO pile-dwelling site occupied from 4900 BC, one of the earliest continuously inhabited wetland settlements in the Alps. The only officially designated rural park in Italy, a working agricultural landscape on the hill above the springs.

Polcenigo is a comune in the province of Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy, about 91 kilometers from Venezia.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia · Pordenone

Polcenigo

A 40-meter village at the foot of the Carnic Prealps where the Livenza rises, neighbour to the UNESCO Palù pile-dwelling site occupied since 4900 BC.

91 km / 57 mi

Nearest hub (Venezia)

3,123

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Polcenigo sitson the slopes of the Western Carnic Prealps, where the limestone aquifer of the Cansiglio plateau surfaces in clear-water springs. The Livenza river begins here at the Santissima spring; a second resurgence, the Gorgazzo, holds an intense blue pool that drops past 212 meters, the deepest explored spring in Italy. Two kilometers from the centro storico, the Palù di Livenza was inhabited from the early Paleolithic; the Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement on its wetlands was inscribed in the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps in 2011. The village above the springs grew up around the castle of the Polcenigo counts; the Parco di San Floriano on the hill behind is the only rural park in Italy. Borgo Creativo Polcenigo, a network of artisan workshops, has worked since the 2010s to keep the trades alive. The annual Sagra dei Sest, the wicker-basket fair every first Sunday of September, is the village's marker.

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Gallery

10 photos · scroll →

Known for

Palù di Livenza
Neolithic pile-dwelling site occupied since 4900 BC, inscribed on the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps list in 2011.
Sorgente del Gorgazzo
Blue-water spring pool, the deepest explored Italian spring at -212 meters, reached by speleonaut Luigi Casati in 2008.
Sorgenti della Livenza
Karst resurgence at Santissima where the Livenza river is born; navigable within meters of its source.
Parco rurale di San Floriano
Only rural park in Italy, on the wooded hill above the village, with traditional farming, paths, and Romanesque San Floriano chapel.
Castello dei Conti di Polcenigo
Counts' residence reworked as a villa in the eighteenth century, still anchoring the upper part of the village above the springs.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through October is the working window, though Polcenigo runs longer than most because the springs do not freeze. May and June are the best months at the Gorgazzo, when the pool shows its strongest blue and the surrounding woods are at their greenest. July and August are humid in the lowland and hot at midday; the springs themselves stay cold and locals swim. September brings the Sagra dei Sest, the wicker-basket festival on the first Sunday, the year's marker. October colour around the Palù di Livenza is the photographer's season. November to March is fog season, with the springs running clearest of all.