History of the Village
The origins of Sesto al Reghena are lost in the mists of time, as evidenced by the discovery of tools dating back to the Bronze Age. In Roman times, it was a statio on the Roman road that branched from Concordia Sagittaria towards Noricum (the northern territories).
The history of the Abbey Village begins around 730-735 AD when the Abbey dedicated to Santa Maria was founded. In 762 AD, a fundamental event occurred: three Lombard brothers, Erfo, Marco, and Anto, sons of Duke Pietro and Piltrude, Lombard nobles, endowed the newly born abbey with all their assets, which extended throughout the current Triveneto, as evidenced by the notarial deed drawn up in Nonantola.
In a few years, other significant events occurred: among the main ones, in 775 Charlemagne confirmed the privileges granted by the Lombard kings to the monastery. Over a century later, between 889 AD and 925 AD, the region was devastated by the raids of the Hungarians, who burned and destroyed everything. This was followed by a period of rebirth that culminated in 960 with the confirmation of Santa Maria's assets and rights by Otto I; the emperor in 967 transferred it with all its appurtenances to the Patriarch of Aquileia.
The rebirth, the domination of Venice, and the decline
In 1182, Pope Lucius III issued a bull of protection for the abbey. Between 1300 and 1330 approximately, a group of Paduan painters, students of Giotto, frescoed the abbey.
The Venetian domination began in 1420, the year in which Aquileia, with the end of the temporal power of the patriarchs, came under the domination of the Venetian Republic, and with it the abbey of Sesto; from 1441, Venice granted the temporary custody of all the ecclesiastical possessions of the abbey to secular prelates (commendatory), who did not follow monastic rules and did not reside on site; the first commendatory abbot was, in 1441, Cardinal Pietro Barbo (later Pope Paul II).
From 1503 to 1627, all the commendatory abbots were expressions of the Grimani family.
In 1789, the suppression of the abbey and the confiscation of the commendatory's assets were carried out by the Republic of Venice.
Finally, in 1867, the current name of Sesto al Reghena dates back to the annexation of Friuli to Italy, at the end of the Lombard-Venetian Kingdom.