Clauiano is one of the most interesting rural villages in the Friulian plain. It was included in the list of the “Most Beautiful Villages of Italy” in 2004, thanks to the extraordinary state of conservation of many of its dwellings, which result into  a uniform style for the whole village. Although they were built at different times, they all comply with the same architectural and town-planning principles based on accurate requirements. Firstly, there was the need for defence, common to all Friulian villages on the plains that were regularly raided in the Middle Ages. In the case of Clauiano, the last attack occurred in 1477, when the Turks set fire to the village, almost completely destroying it. After that, as a protection system, houses were built in closed lines on both sides of the streets, protecting the ground floor windows with loopholes and using stones and pebbles from the nearby Torre stream as building materials. There were also commercial needs: these are rural houses and this explains the large access portals for the passage of carts and animals, and there are large courtyards at the back of the houses with the stables, barns, areas for farmyard animals and, further on, vegetable gardens. Lastly, there were also aesthetic requirements: in Clauiano, the  houses that have survived the passage of time were mostly holiday homes of large aristocratic families who cared for the proportions and symmetry of the exteriors and they enriched them with decorations, balustrades, columns and frescoes.Start the tour from Piazza Giulia.