The country-house
According to an historical document of the XIV century the archdeacon of Aquileia Wodolrico of Gotenburg in 1136, after becoming a monk, built the St. Egidio church with an
adjacent hospice and an hospital . Nowadays those buildings have been restored to the present farmhouse St. Egidio which keeps the ancient scope of hosting alive (“hospice hospitable, form of a
medieval hostel for travellers and pilgrims”).
Today the main activity of the farmhouse is the cultivation of kiwis.
Some historical mentions
The farm and country-house St. Egidio are named after the village in which they are located, which is known according to the friaulian name as “San Zili”,
St.Egidio in Italian.
The present church which is probably dated back to the late 8th century as been recently restored by the building contractor Virginio Carletti, father of the owner Adriana.
St.Egidio
St. Egidio was born in Athens around the middle of the 7th century.
According to the legend the hermit living with a doe from which he got the milk to survive, encountered the king during a shoot.
The doe, hunted by the king, hid behind a bush at the feet of the hermit, but the arrow shoot blind, hit the pious hermit in place of the doe.
The king, to apologize himself for the mistake, donated those lands to Egidio.
Here (in the present San Gille in Provence) in 673 he built a monastery where in 725 (?) he died and was buried.
His grave became soon a place of pilgrimage for both travelers and pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela and to the Holy Land and for those devoted to him. St. Egidio became the patron
saint for epilepsy, panic, disabled people, beggars, leprous, handicapped, shepherds, smiths and horses.
He is usually represented with the shepherd crosier, with the doe spending its milk and the arrow shoot by the king.
