MARCHO - THE LAST FLAG

ROME, 1480. Rizzardo, a descendant of the Lords of Arcano and the noble Marcho of Moruzzo, is the secretary of the Camerlengo of the Sacred College. Fearing Venetian spies, Rizzardo writes the story and hides it. Marcho was the last standard-bearer of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, the only one to oppose the invasion of Venice. UDINE, 1335. Patriarch Bertrando hands the standard of the Patriarchate to Federico, grandfather of Marcho of Moruzzo: before the assembled Friulian Parliament, all swear loyalty. In 1385, Marcho is a 15-year-old boy and his father Pileo is attending a session of the Friulian Parliament. Political disagreements will spark a war between Cividale and Udine, ending in 1388. In 1409, his father Pileo dies, and the patriarchal standard is inherited by Marcho, along with the castle of Moruzzo, shared with his cousin Federico. In Friuli, a new war rages between the people of Udine and Cividale, and thus also between Venice in favor of the former and the imperial vicar in favor of the latter. Rizzardo is always at his writing desk; his story takes us to the subsequent years: in 1419, the Venetian army goes into action at Bottenicco, where the last great battle of the Patriarchate of Aquileia takes place. Even the city of Udine will soon fall. All the nobles submit to Venice, except for Marcho: in his castle, Marcho discovers that even his wife’s family has betrayed him. The Doge cannot leave a rebel in his territories unpunished, and the Venetian army is now ready to besiege Moruzzo as a warning to the entire region. Marcho organizes the escape of his son Pileo. He entrusts him with the patriarchal standard, embraces him, and helps him mount his horse. The siege lasts only a few hours; Marcho is captured and taken to the prisons of Udine Castle on March 13, 1421. There, on March 19, he is sentenced to beheading. His son Pileo manages to escape, but his trail is lost. Less luck befalls other rebels, while the Friulian nobles regain their possessions in the form of fiefs. Rizzardo has completed his task: now Marcho's story has been written and can survive through the years. Rizzardo places the letter among the pages of a book on a shelf. Hand to hand, hidden in a cloak or clutched in a religious vestment, the book travels through the years and finally reaches the historical residence of the Arcano, the Brunelde fortified house. Here, in 1986, the book is found during a restoration. Among its pages, there is the letter: it had remained hidden for 500 years.