The current palazzo dei Conti Toppo was part of one of the eight masi (family-run rural houses) that in 1220 constituted the village of Toppo and Pino.

Renovations carried out after the 1976 earthquake revealed that in at least three cases the site of the medieval masi was occupied by Roman-era settlements. In the 16th century, 25 masi are documented.

Palazzo Toppo-Wassermann stands at the foot of the castle, in the hamlet of Pino, also called “dei Martins”, named after the ancient owners of the original maso from which this interesting example of a country manor house developed in the 16th century. Reworked in the 18th century, the palace was the administrative headquarters for the affairs of the Toppo family and, at the same time, a holiday residence.

The entrance gate, dated 1543, bears the Latin inscription on the architrave “I am opened so the bad may leave. I am closed so the good may remain.”

On the ground floor, there are two frescoes of popular sacred art from the 17th century, removed from the facades of buildings made unstable by the earthquake. From the courtyard, you can access the noble chapel of San Girolamo: inside, there are two 18th-century paintings (possibly by Gian Battista Pittoni), the Lombard holy water font dating back to the year 1000, and the statue of Santa Lucia in painted stone, attributed to a Medunese stonecutter from the 15th century.

The route of the masi begins at Palazzo Toppo Wassermann, leading to the discovery of the original nuclei of the village. In the square in front of the palace, there is a 17th-century building with an entrance arch, once the summer residence of the Counts of Spilimbergo. There are several stone buildings in Borgo Martins, such as the maso (17th-18th century) encountered while ascending via della Colonia. A little further on the left, the road leading to the castle begins.

The imposing remains of the castle dominate the plain and the settlement of Toppo from the slopes of Mount Ciaurlèc, and can be visited with a guided tour. The manor, restored in 2012, is one of the most important examples of fortified architecture in Friuli from the 12th-14th century, thanks to its good state of preservation and the fact that it has not undergone changes after the 15th century. In the 16th century, it was already abandoned and in ruins, as the lords of Toppo had moved to the foot of the hill, in the current Palazzo Toppo-Wassermann.

The central core of the fortification, enclosed by a polygonal wall, contained the mighty keep from the feudal era. Inside, archaeological excavations have uncovered the site of a clandestine mint that coined counterfeit Venetian and Carinthian coins in the first three decades of the 13th century. Next to the keep stood the residence of the lords of Toppo. An outer wall protected the central core and delimited the space where service structures were located: well, stables, sheds, and small artisan workshops. On this curtain wall, the small church of Sant’Antonio Abate was also erected, with the valuable 14th-century frescoes discovered during restoration work. The mule track that climbed from the village below to the castle is being restored to allow visitors to reach the manor on foot, with a walk through the woods.

Descending to the hamlet of Toppo via via della Colonia and via dei Masi, on the left at the intersection with via Fornace, you can see the entrance arch of a renovated building that was part of a maso from the 15th-17th century. Continuing along the south side of via Fornace, you can admire a series of 17th-18th century buildings, outbuildings of an ancient maso. Via Fornace, which will soon regain its old fountain, retains its courtyard houses with porch and external balcony, consistent with the garden and orchard behind.

A little further on, there is the junction that leads to the lime kiln (1926-57), while on the right begins the beautiful cycle path that leads to Travesio.

Here, in the main town, a visit to one of the most significant Renaissance painting cycles in Friuli is a must, housed in the ancient pieve di San Pietro renovated in the 19th century in neoclassical style. These are the frescoes (1516-1526) by Giovanni Antonio de Sacchis known as “il Pordenone”, an artist who rivaled none other than Titian. Trained in the Venetian environment, il Pordenone is a complex painter, with multiple influences ranging from Giorgione (for the half-tones fading into each other) to Michelangelo (for the monumentality of the figures). In the paintings of Travesio, which have as their theme the life of the apostle Peter, color and plastic sense anticipate mannerism.

The church is also enriched by two sculptures by the great stonecutter Giovanni Antonio Pilacorte: the sacristy portal (1484) and the magnificent baptismal font with a wide basin decorated with vegetal motifs (1490).