Description
Toppo, from the Friulian Tóp, is a toponym that first appeared in 1186: according to some historians, the term indicates the hillock on which the village stands. The site was frequented as far back as Roman times: traces of rustic villas with mosaics have been found at some of the farms.
The existence of the village is attested by a passage in the 6th century AD work, The Life of St Martin by Venanzio Fortunato. It mentions the foothill road that at Toppo forded the Meduna River, connecting the Alpine passes with the Po Valley.
The mediaeval village stood on the site of the Roman settlement and consisted of two nuclei, Pino and Toppo, separated by the Gleria stream. In these hamlets, the settlement of the farming community was organised according to the system of masi, small family-run farms consisting of living quarters, home gardens and plots of arable land scattered nearby. In Toppo, the village organisation based on the masi, typical of the medieval curtense system, was preserved until the end of the 17th century, leaving visible traces in the town planning and architecture of the present village.
The first attestation of the presence of a lord of Toppo, Uroino, dates back to 1160. He was the son of the Norman Siegfried, who came to Friuli from the Kingdom of Naples as a defender of the Church of Aquileia, becoming feudal lord of the Patriarch of Aquileia.
The 1976 earthquake caused further serious damage to the structure. Starting in 1987, a major intervention was carried out to secure the unsafe parts. In the second phase of the work, starting in 2005, extensive archaeological and structural investigations were carried out, followed by the reconstruction of the walls and the restoration of the small church of Sant’Antonio Abate. Following the restoration and clearing of the area, it is possible to visit the remains and appreciate the breathtaking view it offers. A field below the castle is equipped for paragliders to land from Mount Valìnis.
Near Toppo is the puntìc, a small bridge of boulders and bricks that crosses the Cosa stream and the hill of San Giorgio, surmounted by a small alpine church. Art is well represented: in the parish church of Travesio there are frescoes by Pordenone; in the village of Zancan, in the church dedicated to the Madonna del Latte (or of Cosa), Giovanni Antonio Pilacorte sculpted a magnificent portal in 1505, with eighteen winged putti running along the jambs and architrave. Another well-known Friulian Renaissance artist, Pomponio Amanteo, left one of his altarpieces (1533) in Usago, in the Church of St Thomas.
The starting point for numerous itineraries is the Villa Conti Toppo-Wassermann. Built in the 16th century on the site of a medieval farmstead and then extensively remodelled in the 18th century, the villa was a place of recreation and the administrative headquarters for family business. When the family died out, the building passed into public hands and today belongs to the municipality of Travesio. The tourist consortium between the Pro-Loco of the Spilimberg area has its headquarters here.