Tarvisio - Santi Pietro e Paolo

The parish church of Tarvisio (German "Tarvis"), dedicated to Peter and Paulus was built within the 15th century. The round octagonal "Karner" (= ossuary) may date from the 13th century, when a second round tower existed here as well. Tarvisio is located on an old, important Trans-Alpine road, only about 8kms south of the border between Italy and Austria. It belonged from 1002 to 1759 to the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg (= "Hochstift Bamberg).

In medieval times Bamberg (about 600kms north) was the center of a very powerful diocese. When in 1238 Berthold V. von Andechs became Patriarch of Aquileia and moved the capital of the ecclesiastical state from Cividale to Udine (see previous uploads), his uncle Poppo von Andechs-Meranien was Bishop in Bamberg.

When the church was built, it was strongly fortified, surrounded by walls and ditches, as the area was raided by Turkish troops from 1478 on.