About 1200 the patriarchs enfeoffed the Venzone estates to the Mels noble family residing at Mels Castle near Udine ( progenitors of the House of Colloredo-Mansfeld ) . The local lords had the town surrounded by a massive double line of walls with several watchtowers and a moat , starting in 1258 . After they had ceded the '' comune '' to the Counts of Gorizia , Venzone was re-acquired by Patriarch Bertram of St. Genesius in 1336 . The buildings suffered severe damages during the 1348 Friuli earthquake . From 1351 the fief was held by the Habsburg duke Albert II of Austria , before Venzone , together with most parts of Friuli , was conquered by the Republic of Venice and incorporated into the Domini di Terraferma after 1420 . In the following centuries of Venetian rule , Venzone lost its importance as a commercial centre . Upon the conquest by Napoleonic troops and the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio , it passed under Austrian domination within the Kingdom of Lombardy – Venetia . After the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866 , it was annexed to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy
1348 Friuli earthquake
1348 Friuli earthquake
Venzone