Monfalcone

For other uses, see Monfalcone (disambiguation).

Comune in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Monfalcone

Comune

Comune di Monfalcone

Piazza della Repubblica in Monfalcone

Coat of arms

Location of Monfalcone

Monfalcone

Location of Monfalcone in Italy

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Monfalcone

Monfalcone (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)

Show map of Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Coordinates: 45°48′N 13°32′E﻿ / ﻿45.800°N 13.533°E﻿ / 45.800; 13.533
Country| Italy
Region| Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Province| Gorizia (GO)
Frazioni| Archi, Aris, Bagni, Cima di Pietrarossa, Crosera, La Rocca, Lisert, Marina Julia, Marina Nova, Panzano, Pietrarossa, San Polo, Schiavetti, Serraglio, Via Romana-Solvay
Government

• Mayor| Anna Maria Cisint
Area

[1]

• Total

| 20 km2 (8 sq mi)
Elevation

| 7 m (23 ft)
Population

(1 January 2022)[2]

• Total

| 29,637
• Density| 1,500/km2 (3,800/sq mi)
Demonym| Monfalconesi
Time zone| UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)| UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code|

34074

Dialing code| 0481
ISTAT code| 031012
Patron saint| St. Ambrose
Saint day| November 21
Website| Official website

Monfalcone (Italian pronunciation: [moɱfalˈkoːne]; Bisiacco: Mofalcòn; Friulian: Monfalcon; Slovene: Tržič; archaic German: Falkenberg) is a town and comune (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Trieste. Its name means 'falcon mountain' (see Montfaucon in French and Falkenberg in Germanic languages).

It is a major industrial centre for manufacturing ships, airplanes, textiles, chemicals, and refined oil, and is home to one of Fincantieri's main shipyards. Monfalcone is the northernmost city on the Mediterranean Sea.

## Geography

[edit]

Monfalcone port

Monfalcone is the fifth most populous town in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the main centre of Bisiacaria territory. Joined to its neighbourhoods, it has about 50,000 inhabitants. The town lies between the Karst hills and the Adriatic coast, and it is the northernmost port of the Mediterranean Sea.

## History

[edit]

In prehistoric times the area of Monfalcone housed several fortified villages called castellieri. After the foundation of the Roman city of Aquileia (181 BC), some thermal buildings were created on the hills, known as Insulae Clarae.

After Ostrogoth, Byzantine, Lombard, and Frankish domination, Monfalcone was controlled by the Patriarchs of Aquileia starting from 967.[3] The Venetians conquered it in 1420 after three days of siege, keeping it until 1511, when it fell to the French. Conquered back by Venice, it was ravaged by the troops of Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I in 1513, who destroyed the Rocca fortress. In 1521 it was returned to the Republic of Venice, under which it remained until its dissolution by the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio.

Adria factories in Monfalcone during Austrian bombing in World War I

From 1805 it was controlled by the French Empire until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, after which it was included in the Kingdom of Illyria, part of the Austrian Empire. Incorporated into the crown land of Gorizia and Gradisca, it belonged to the Austrian Littoral from 1849. The first shipyards arose from about 1908 onwards, among them the Cantiere Navale Triestino company building steamships for the Austro-Americana Line based in Trieste. During World War I, the town was captured by Italian forces in 1915 and became the rear line during the bloody Battles of the Isonzo, being briefly recaptured by Austria-Hungary after the 1917 Battle of Caporetto, but returning to Italy in 1918. The shipyards were severely damaged by bitter fighting and had to be rebuilt afterwards. During World War II the town was repeatedly bombed and heavily damaged, became a center of the Italian Resistance after the Armistice of Cassibile, and it was briefly occupied by Yugoslav troops at the end of the war.

## Main sights

[edit]

* Rocca fortress. Of medieval origin (according to a legend, it was founded by Theoderic the Great, King of the Ostrogoths), its current appearance dates to Venetian restorations in the early 16th century. The interior houses a speleology exhibition.
* World War I Park
* Karst area
* Saint Ambrose's Cathedral
* Roman villas and thermae: Several remains of Roman villas have been found on the territory of the municipality of Monfalcone. The sites are object of archaeological research but are not open to public. A thermae dating back to the Roman era is also present and what remains of the ancient edifice is now included in the current thermal establishment that was reactivated in 2014.[4]

## Transport

[edit]

Monfalcone railway station, opened in 1860, is a junction between the Venice–Trieste railway and the Udine–Trieste railway.

The construction and design records of the ships produced in Monfalcone Shipyard Number 1 from 1909 - 1967 have been preserved in the Fondo Egone Missio Archives (Egone Missio Archives).

## People

[edit]

Main page: Category:People from Monfalcone

* Enrico Toti (1882–1916), cyclist, was killed in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo in Monfalcone
* Antonio Sant'Elia (1888–1916), architect, was killed in the Eighth Battle of the Isonzo in Monfalcone
* Filippo Zappata (1894–1994), engineer, worked in Monfalcone
* Mirko Gruden (1911–1967), footballer
* Gino Paoli (born 1934), singer-songwriter
* Paolo Rossi (born 1953), actor
* Stefano Zoff (born 1966), boxer
* Mo-Do (Fabio Frittelli; 1966–2013), musician
* Elisa Toffoli (born 1977), singer-songwriter, grew up in Monfalcone
* Massimiliano Versace (born 1972), scientist

## International relations

[edit]

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Italy

Monfalcone is twinned with:

* Neumarkt in Steiermark, Austria
* Gallipoli, Italy
* Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey
* Zonguldak, Turkey

## Climate

[edit]

Climate data for Monfalcone (Ronchi dei Legionari) (1991–2020)

Month  | Jan  | Feb  | Mar  | Apr  | May  | Jun  | Jul  | Aug  | Sep  | Oct  | Nov  | Dec  | Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)  | 8.9
(48.0)  | 10.5
(50.9)  | 14.5
(58.1)  | 18.5
(65.3)  | 23.1
(73.6)  | 27.2
(81.0)  | 29.6
(85.3)  | 29.7
(85.5)  | 24.6
(76.3)  | 19.4
(66.9)  | 14.0
(57.2)  | 9.8
(49.6)  | 19.2
(66.5)
Daily mean °C (°F)  | 4.1
(39.4)  | 5.0
(41.0)  | 8.7
(47.7)  | 12.6
(54.7)  | 17.3
(63.1)  | 21.2
(70.2)  | 23.4
(74.1)  | 23.4
(74.1)  | 18.8
(65.8)  | 14.1
(57.4)  | 9.3
(48.7)  | 5.0
(41.0)  | 13.6
(56.4)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)  | −0.6
(30.9)  | −0.4
(31.3)  | 2.8
(37.0)  | 6.8
(44.2)  | 11.4
(52.5)  | 15.2
(59.4)  | 17.2
(63.0)  | 17.1
(62.8)  | 13.0
(55.4)  | 8.7
(47.7)  | 4.5
(40.1)  | 0.2
(32.4)  | 8.0
(46.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches)  | 69.6
(2.74)  | 69.4
(2.73)  | 77.1
(3.04)  | 124.8
(4.91)  | 139.5
(5.49)  | 108.6
(4.28)  | 93.4
(3.68)  | 102.7
(4.04)  | 111.6
(4.39)  | 168.4
(6.63)  | 170.5
(6.71)  | 92.8
(3.65)  | 1,328.4
(52.29)
Source: Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale[5]

## Trivia

[edit]

In 2024 religious, cultural and ethnic factors gained importance with cricket being banned in the town.[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
2. ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
3. ^ Touring Club Italia: Gorizia e provincia: Grado, la laguna, il Collio, Redipuglia, l'Isonzo page 103: "...attraverso un «priviliegium imperiale» Ottone I assegnò nel 967 il «vicus Panzani», primo nucleo abitato della futura Monfalcone, al patriarca di Aquileia."; in English: "...through a priviliegium imperiale of the year 967, Otto I granted the territory called vicus Panzani, the original nucleus of the future village of Monfalcone, to the patriarch of Aquileia."
4. ^ "Il Friuli - Monfalcone riscopre le terme romane". www.ilfriuli.it. 2016-08-12.
5. ^ "Valori climatici normali in Italia". Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale. Archived from the original on 17 September 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
6. ^ BBC. "The Italian town that banned cricket". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 September 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website (in Italian)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Monfalcone.

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Friuli-Venezia Giulia * Comuni of the Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia

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