A town of medieval origin, it expresses its own grandeur in the many architectures of great interest in the city centre like the castle and the Cathedral within the first perimeter walls. It is also known as the capital of mosaic art: it is "town of mosaics" thanks to the activities of a school that is unique of its kind in the world. In July the town hosts the "Folkest", the largest folk festival of southern Europe. In mid-August time stops in the 1400s on the occasion of the commemoration of the Macia (ancient unit of measure).

The imperious Mount Rest stands guard over the valley and the tourists that travel through its pass to go to Carnia. The great number of localities, some of them uninhabited, are spread along the innumerable pathways that allow you to enter into close contact with the silence of nature. Characteristic are the wooden utensils and the local cooking having unusual flavours like pitina, a meatball of lamb and chamois.

The surroundings are the real protagonists in this small but striking area, with its rivers and mountains vainly mirrored in the artificial lakes, making the waters shine emerald green in summer or cobalt blue in winter. As in a ghost city, during the dry periods the ancient walls of the abandoned houses stick out from the bed of the lake. Still present are the historic handicrafts, with basket weavers, sawyers, stone-dressers and tinsmiths.

Placed at the feet of the Ciaurlec, it is the approach to the mountain territory that presents itself majestically behind. In the hamlet of Toppo, one of the more interesting ones in the Province with its stone houses, the wooden entrance gates and the splendidly flowery lobbies dominate the remains of the medieval castle that has been recently restored and can be visited. During the Easter period there is the traditional and unusual Frog festival.

Drawn up at the desk of an architect in Padua University, in little less than a kilometre and a half of surface area is contained the recent history of this small village, narrow as if in brotherly embrace from the nearby communities of Maniago and Montereale. Along the parallel roads in green surroundings you overlook the dwellings that since 1971 have sheltered the populations of Erto and Casso, forced to abandon their own houses following the disaster of the Vajont.

In the cathedral and castle of this jewel of urban living and architecture, one of the borghi più belli d'Italia, can be found some of the most important symbols. The old manor, where Napoleon was also a guest, "stands guard" over lanes and houses that maintain intact their splendour. Of value is the 16th century monumental organ present in the Cathedral. In mid-September it is possible to relive the medieval atmosphere during the historic commemoration.

In the valley carved out by the Arzino the main player is water: the sulphurous one of the Barquet brook has in the past given life to a spa station, while in the vicinity a grotto was opened known as the house of the Agane, beautiful and cruel fairies whose tears are the source of the stream. Girolamo "Jacopo" Ortis, was born in these parts, a medical student  who committed suicide in Padua, he was inspired by the leading character in a novel by Ugo Foscolo.

It is the gravel that typifies this area in which the waters of the Cellina and Meduna rivers pursue each other to play hide and seek. Rare species of pre-historic plants, fruit of some seeds left on the ground by the retreat of the glaciers or by the passage of invading populations, give nature a characteristic vegetation and cutting-edge agriculture. Traces of its ancient history are revived in the antiquarium of Tesis, where archaeological remains have been gathered together.