Monumento ai caduti

On via Corridoni, a domed tempietto and a nursery school form a single First World War memorial. Its mosaics — a helmet emblem and a wall panel with Victory and the names of the fallen — include a panel designed by Umberto Martina and executed by Gino Avon. The memorial records 177 people from Spilimbergo who fell or went missing in the First World War.

Why it matters

The complex on via Corridoni pairs an asilo, or nursery school, with a votive chapel in memory of the 177 people from Spilimbergo recorded as fallen or missing in the First World War. Known as an asilo-monumento ai caduti della Grande Guerra, it unites education and commemoration.

The memorial also belongs to the town's mosaic story. Its floor and back wall carry mosaic work executed by craftsmen of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, whose premises stand a short walk away, and the regional heritage catalogue records the paving as a signed work of 1930. The memorial connects Spilimbergo’s mosaic tradition with its remembrance of the war dead.

What to notice

The round chapel is crowned by a dome resting on eight columns. Its floor mosaic radiates in concentric arcs from a central roundel framed by a Greek-key border. A military helmet flanked by the dates 1915–1918 forms the only glass-enamel element against the marble tesserae. The signature "GINO AVON 1930" is set at the exit.

The wall mosaic shows a winged Victory at the centre with raised arms bearing two laurel crowns. Beside her, a woman in classical dress writes the names of the dead while a nude boy assists. The names run in two columns and include "INFERM.RA DIANESE ANNA", a nurse among the soldiers. The inscriptions "Avon 1930" and "Martina 1928" mark the executor and the date of the preparatory design, respectively.

Context and history

Umberto Martina (1880–1945), born at Dardago di Budoia and trained at the Venice Academy, developed a style combining Liberty sinuosity, classical elements and naturalistic suggestion. Around 1928 he produced the bozzetti — preparatory designs — for the memorial's mosaic panel, works still preserved at the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli. Execution fell to Gino Avon, a mosaicist of the local school born in 1896, who signed the floor in 1930.

The mosaic also reflects Spilimbergo’s local craft tradition. The town’s mosaic school, founded in 1922, trained workers in a year-round profession, while river stones are part of the region’s mosaic heritage. The floor mosaic was made using an indirect paper-transfer technique. The municipal nursery displays a mosaic tree made by children with mosaicist Giulio Candussio and the Eklektic cultural association.