Bordano, the Village of Butterflies in Friuli Venezia Giulia, pairs over 100 painted murals with genuine alpine biodiversity. A guide to its trails, lake, food, and art.
Dozens of painted butterflies climb the stone walls of houses along the main road — wings of swallowtails and Apollos rendered in bright pigment against grey plaster. At 224 metres above sea level, Bordano sits at the foot of Monte San Simeone in the province of Udine, a village of 705 inhabitants that has built an identity around a single, improbable subject: Lepidoptera. Understanding what to see in Bordano begins here, at the intersection of natural science and rural art, where every facade tells an entomological story.
The name Bordano likely derives from a Lombard or late-Latin root — possibly connected to “bord,” referring to a border or edge settlement along the Tagliamento river valley. The area has been inhabited since at least the early medieval period, when communities in this part of Friuli Venezia Giulia organised around small agricultural nuclei, cultivating what the thin alpine-edge soils allowed and raising livestock on the surrounding slopes. Like much of the region, Bordano passed through centuries of Patriarchal and Venetian rule before falling under Habsburg administration and eventually becoming part of unified Italy.
The village suffered severe damage during the 1976 Friuli earthquake, a 6.4-magnitude event that flattened towns across the province of Udine. Reconstruction was slow, and Bordano, like its neighbours, faced depopulation as younger residents left for larger centres. The decision in the late 1990s to transform the village into the “Paese delle Farfalle” — the Village of Butterflies — was a deliberate act of cultural reinvention. Local authorities and artists began painting large-scale butterfly murals on rebuilt walls, drawing on the genuine abundance of butterfly species found on the sunny limestone slopes of Monte San Simeone.
This was not mere decoration. The microclimate of Bordano’s south-facing hillside, combined with the diversity of wild flora, sustains an unusually rich population of butterflies — over 100 species have been documented in the surrounding area. The murals became both a celebration of this ecological fact and a strategy for survival, drawing visitors to a village that might otherwise have quietly emptied.
More than 100 large-scale paintings cover the facades of houses, barns, and public buildings throughout Bordano. Each mural depicts a butterfly species found in the local environment, painted with anatomical care — vein patterns on wings, correct antennae shapes. Walking the village amounts to an open-air field guide rendered on plaster and stone.
This enclosed tropical garden and exhibition space houses live butterflies from around the world, flying freely among visitors in a controlled warm-humid environment. Interpretive panels explain life cycles, migration patterns, and the ecological role of pollinators. The facility also documents the native species catalogued on Monte San Simeone’s slopes, grounding the spectacle in local science.
Rising to 1,505 metres directly above the village, Monte San Simeone offers marked hiking trails through beech forest, alpine meadow, and exposed karst. The mountain’s south-facing lower slopes create the warm microclimate responsible for Bordano’s butterfly diversity. From the summit ridge, the view extends across the Tagliamento river plain to the Julian Alps and Carnic Alps.
The parish church of Sant’Andrea, rebuilt after the 1976 earthquake, stands in the centre of the village. Its simple stone exterior is characteristic of Friulian ecclesiastical architecture. Inside, elements salvaged from the original structure were incorporated into the reconstruction — a common practice across the earthquake zone that preserved continuity with the pre-disaster community.
Just minutes from Bordano, Lago di Cavazzo — also known as Lago dei Tre Comuni — is the largest natural lake in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Its clear, cold waters sit in a glacial basin surrounded by forested hills. The lake is used for swimming, kayaking, and fishing, and its shoreline paths connect to wider trail networks in the Tagliamento valley.
The cuisine around Bordano reflects the broader Carnic and Friulian alpine tradition — hearty, resourced from what the mountains provide. Frico, a dish of melted cheese often mixed with potatoes, is a regional staple found in local trattorias. Cjarsòns, half-moon pasta filled with a sweet-savoury mixture of herbs, smoked ricotta, chocolate, and cinnamon, then dressed with melted butter and aged ricotta, represent the Carnic valleys’ most distinctive contribution to Italian gastronomy. Polenta — made from locally milled cornmeal — accompanies nearly everything, from wild game stews to grilled sausages of pork and fennel.
The province of Udine produces Montasio DOP, a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese aged in the mountain dairies of the region. Honey from the wildflower meadows of Monte San Simeone also appears at local markets, its flavour profile shaped by the same botanical diversity that supports the butterfly population. Small agriturismi in the surrounding area serve these products in settings where the kitchen garden is visible from the table.
Late spring through early autumn — May to September — is the optimal window. Butterfly activity peaks between June and August, when the meadows above the village are in full bloom and the greatest number of species can be observed in the wild. The Casa delle Farfalle typically operates on a seasonal schedule, with extended hours during summer months. The annual “Festa delle Farfalle,” usually held in June, brings guided nature walks, entomological workshops, and evening events to the village.
Winters are quiet and cold, with Monte San Simeone collecting snow on its upper reaches. The murals remain visible year-round, but the village largely turns inward. For hikers, September and October offer clear skies, cooler temperatures on the trails, and the beech forests above Bordano shifting into copper and amber. Lago di Cavazzo is swimmable from late June through August, when water temperatures become tolerable.
Bordano sits along the SS512 road in the Tagliamento valley, accessible from the A23 motorway (Alpe-Adria) — exit at Gemona del Friuli or Carnia, then follow local roads south or north respectively. The drive from Udine is approximately 35 kilometres, taking around 35-40 minutes. From Trieste, the distance is roughly 120 kilometres via the A4 and A23 motorways.
The nearest train station is Gemona del Friuli-Osoppo, served by regional trains on the Udine–Tarvisio line. From the station, Bordano is about 10 kilometres by road — a taxi or local bus connection is needed. The closest international airport is Trieste–Friuli Venezia Giulia Airport (Ronchi dei Legionari), approximately 100 kilometres to the south. Venice Marco Polo Airport, at roughly 170 kilometres, offers wider flight connections across Europe and beyond.
The mountains and valleys surrounding Bordano hold a network of small communities, each shaped by the same geological forces and historical currents. Deeper into the Carnic Alps, Ampezzo occupies the upper Tagliamento valley, where the river narrows between forested ridges. It is a starting point for hikes into the Carnic range and shares with Bordano the post-earthquake resilience that defines so many Friulian settlements.
To the southeast, closer to the morainic hills of central Friuli, Attimis preserves the ruins of two medieval castles — Superiore and Inferiore — that once controlled the approach to the mountains from the Udine plain. Together, these villages illustrate the range of what this region holds: from the alpine verticality of Ampezzo to the feudal stonework of Attimis, and in Bordano, a village that chose to paint its walls with the wings of insects and, in doing so, refused to disappear.
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