According to legend, a first chapel at Rosazzo was built about 800 by a
hermit called
Alemanno. A convent of
Augustinian canons (
monasterium rosarum) was probably established around 960, when the area became part of the Imperial
March of Verona. The monastery church dedicated to
Saint Peter was consecrated in 1070; it was elevated to the rank of an abbey by the
Aquileia patriarch
Ulrich of Eppenstein about 1090. At the time, the premises were settled with
Benedictine monks descending from
Millstatt Abbey in
Carinthia, where Ulrich's brother
Liutold was duke. Under Benedictine rule the abbey prospered and held large estates in the
Gorizia Hills, as well as in
Istria and around
Tarvisio. In 1245 the monastery was even put under immediate papal authority by
Pope Innocent IV. However, the autonomy of Rosazzo ended in 1391, when the convent was transferred
in commendam of the
Archdiocese of Ravenna. By 1420, the Friuli region was occupied by the
Republic of Venice and later incorporated into the
Domini di Terraferma. Devastated by a blaze in 1509, the premises were abandoned and re-settled by
Dominican brothers from 1522 onwards. From 1823 Rosazzo served as a summer residence of the
Bishops of Udine. Part of the
Kingdom of Italy from 1866, Manzano was the site where during
World War I, from 29 July 1917, the first
Arditi units of the
Royal Italian Army were formed and trained. The event is still celebrated on the last Sunday in July. Rosazzo Abbey was heavily damaged by the
1976 Friuli earthquake, but restored under the auspices of the Udine archbishop
Alfredo Battisti. ==Twin towns==