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…