Between 1238 and 1751 the patriarchs of Aquileia usually resided in Udine. Initially the castle of the city was their residence, but at the end of the sixteenth century that building was commandeered by the Venetian governor. The patriarchs – who were all Venetians too by the way – thereupon…
The castle of Udine is situated on an artificial hill of which the history goes back to the Bronze Age. There is no truth whatsoever in the legend that it was Attila the Hun who had the hill created in 452 so that he could witness the destruction of the…
The Piazza della Libertà is the most famous square in the centre of Udine. It is dominated by two buildings. On the south side we find the Loggia del Lionello, the former city hall of Udine, which looks a lot like the Doge’s Palace in Venice. And on the north…
The museum of the cathedral of Udine is housed in the octagonal bell-tower of the building and in a couple of chapels to the left of the choir. The ground floor of the bell-tower previously served as the baptistery of the cathedral, which also explains its octagonal shape. Regretfully the…
Udine is not the most touristic city in Italy. It was nice and quiet in both the museums and the restaurants, while there was ample space in the underground car park. One of the main goals of our visit to the city was of course its Duomo, of which the…
After a great lunch we returned to the Piazza Garibaldi for the second part of our visit to charming Spilimbergo. From the Piazza we walked in the direction of the church of San Giovanni dei Battuti. This church dates from the fourteenth century. It was built in 1346 and dedicated…
The charming town of Spilimbergo, with a population of about 12,000, is among other things known for its Saturday market. We had more or less accidentally picked a Saturday to visit it and the streets were simply crowded with people. Fortunately we managed to find a spot to park our…
In the centre of the small town of Cividale del Friuli all attractions are within walking distance of each other. I have already dedicated separate posts to some of these attractions. This post will be used to cover the remaining ones all at once. Our walk starts just south of…
The national archaeological museum in Cividale del Friuli has a very long history. It was founded in 1817, and at the end of the nineteenth century it was housed in the Palazzo de Nordis, a nice palazzo from the fifteenth century just north of the Duomo of the town. Nowadays…
The museum next to the Duomo of Cividale del Friuli is fairly small. It consists of no more than four rooms. It would nevertheless be a pity to skip the museum, as it has beautiful Longobardic sculptural work from the eighth century on display, as well as paintings from the…
The Duomo of Cividale del Friuli, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, is strictly speaking not a cathedral, as Cividale does not have its own bishop anymore. The area surrounding the building is interesting and tells us a lot about the history of the town. The Duomo for instance faces a…
Of all the Italian cities that I have visited in my life, Trieste has to be the most un-Italian. Trieste was an Austrian city for ages, had many non-Italian inhabitants and has only been part of Italy for a relatively brief period of time. Together with Trento it was the…
In Antiquity, Trieste was known as Tergeste. It is not entirely clear who the original inhabitants were. Perhaps they were part of the Histri or the Celtic Carni, but it is also possible that they were Veneti. The name Tergeste (Terg-este) in any case seems to support the Venetic hypothesis,…
The signs in the streets of Trieste not only give directions, but also mention the number of steps to take before reaching an attraction. I must say the signs are very helpful, but if it is 37 degrees centigrade outside and one has to climb the hill where the Duomo…
In the summer of 2017 we visited Aquileia, once a prosperous Roman city with perhaps over 100,000 inhabitants. In the fourth century, the Roman poet Ausonius (ca. 310-395) placed the city ninth on his list of the most important cities of the Roman Empire. That fourth century was a turbulent…
The splendid church of Santa Eufemia in Grado’s historical city centre is actually a former patriarchal basilica. It was the formal seat of the Patriarch of Grado until, in 1451, the Patriarchate of Grado was suppressed and moved to Venice. By that time, the Patriarch of Grado had already for…
Grado today is a lovely seaside resort which draws scores of tourists to its wonderful beaches. Ancient Grado used to be the port of Aquileia, some ten kilometres to the north. In Antiquity, it was known as Ad Aquas Gradatas, which was shortened to Gradus during the Middle Ages. Here,…
The beautiful Romanesque basilica of Santa Maria Assunta was the official seat of the Patriarch of Aquileia until the patriarchate was finally suppressed in 1751. The basilica we see today was erected in the eleventh century, but there has been a church at this site since the early fourth century,…
Modern Aquileia is just a small and pleasant town of some 3.500 inhabitants in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Northeast Italy. Ancient Aquileia, however, was a large and prosperous city with a population that is estimated to have exceeded 100.000 souls. Founded in the year 181 BCE, Aquileia occupied…