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Metêtsi intor dute l’armadure di Diu, stait salts inte fede e veglait! Cussì e je la nestre mission. / Put on the whole armour of God, stand fast in the faith and keep watch! Such is our mission. Learn Friulian free online: start here.

02 October 2025

Lavôrs di restaur: lis puartis de glesie di Sante Marie in Cjistiel a tornin a vierzi

Today in La Vôs dai Furlans, we read that a twelfth-century church in Udin will open again, after much restoration work had been performed:

Lis puartis de glesie di Sante Marie in Cjistiel a tornaràn a vierzi domenie ai cinc. I lavôrs di restaur a son stâts luncs e complicâts. La glesie che si viôt in dì di vuê e je dal decim secont secul, ma prime di chê al jere un edifici plui antîc, forsit dal otâf secul. / Riferiment: La Vôs dai Furlans.


The doors of the Church of Saint Mary of the Castle (lis puartis de glesie di Sante Marie in Cjistiel) will open again (a tornaràn a vierzi) on Sunday the fifth (domenie ai cinc). The restoration work (i lavôrs di restaur) was long and complicated (a son stâts luncs e complicâts). The church that we see today (la glesie che si viôt in dì di vuê) is from the twelfth century (e je dal decim secont secul), but before that (ma prime di chê), there was an older building (al jere un edifici plui antîc), perhaps from the eighth century (forsit dal otâf secul).

La glesie di Sante Marie in Cjistiel:

La plêf di Sante Marie in Cjistiel

Friulian vocabulary

  • tornâ a vierzi, to reopen
  • i lavôrs di restaur, restoration work
  • in dì di vuê, today, at present
  • decim secont, twelfth
  • otâf, eighth
  • un edifici, a building
  • un secul, a century

Friulian usages

Tornâ a vierzi: to reopen, to open again. Repetition is conveyed in Friulian through the use of: tornâ a. Tornâ a fâ: to redo. Tornâ a tacâ: to restart. Tornâ a cjapâ: to retake. Tornâ a partî: to leave again. Tornâ a colâ: to fall again. In the imperative of the second-person singular, the preposition between the two verbs is dropped, and both verbs are set in the imperative; so we say: tornâ a scrivi la frase (to rewrite the sentence), but: torne scrîf la frase! (rewrite the sentence!); we say: tornâ a clamâlu (to call him again), but: torne clamilu! (call him again!). In the composed tenses, we use the auxiliary vê, for instance: o ài tornât a fâ il stes sium (I have had the same dream again); al à tornât a pecjâ (he has sinned again).

Vierzi: to open. Some Friulians will pronounce this as vièr-zi, whereas others will say vièr-gi. In the first case, we have what sounds like English z; in the second, we have what sounds like English j. The past participle is either viert or vierzût; for instance: o ài viert il barcon; o ài vierzût il barcon (I have opened the window).

Antîc: old, ancient. Its four forms are: antîc (masculine singular); antîcs (masculine plural); antighe (feminine singular); antighis (feminine plural). Tonic stress is on the second syllable in all four.