Tourism

Udine is the "historic center" of the entire Friuli region, as it is located in the heart of its territory, between the Tagliamento and Isonzo rivers, in a large flat area.

Ancient seat of the patriarchs of Aquileia from 1238 to 1420 before passing under Venetian rule, Udine is grouped around a hill, circumscribed by the picturesque Sottomonte alley, on the top of which stands the Castle.

The church of S. Maria delle Grazie overlooks the square, rebuilt in eighteenth-century forms by Giorgio Massari and reworked in the nineteenth century with the addition of a neoclassical pronaos.

Via Manin you then reach Piazza della Libertà, the heart of the ancient city, overlooked by the Palazzo Comunale or Loggia del Lionello, named after the artist who designed it.

It is an elegant Gothic-Venetian building with a large loggia on the ground floor and the upper one embellished with mullioned windows and multi-light windows.

On the opposite side, in an elevated position with respect to the square, the Portico of S. Giovanni, from the Renaissance period, is surmounted by the Clock Tower.

Recently restored and returned to museum activity after the damage of the 1976 earthquake, the Castle was built in 1511 on pre-existing fortifications.

The center of Cividale del Friuli consists of the large square where the Cathedral stands, on the site of the ancient Roman forum (Forum Iulii, name from which that of the Friuli region derives), rebuilt in its present form by Pietro Lombardo starting from 1457 .

With a very simple facade, it has an interior with three naves. At the altars there are paintings by Palma il Giovanni, Pomponio Amalteo, Caspare Diziani and Pordenone.

The Treasury is now a Museum and contains some pieces of extraordinary importance, such as the Ara of Ratchis and the Baptistery of Callisto from the 8th century, the Marble Chair from the 10th century, as well as marbles from other churches, cibori, plutei, reliquaries. Longobards, works in silver and gold as well as the sword of the patriarch Marquardo. Cividale also hosts the Christian Museum, which houses some of the most representative examples of early medieval sculpture, especially from the Lombard period.

Near the Duomo is the Palazzo dei Provveditori Veneti, built by Palladio around the middle of the sixteenth century. The Palazzo hosts the National Archaeological Museum, the most extraordinary collection of weapons, jewels and epigraphic documents of the Lombard civilization.

Opposite is Palazzo De Nordis. From Piazza del Duomo you can then reach the Ponte del Diavolo, built in the fifteenth century and rebuilt several times, with a beautiful perspective on the Natisone.

Venzone is the only testimony in Friuli of a 13th century fortified city.

The walls originally had 16 quadrangular towers, wooden stairs (retractable) connected by a walkway, around a moat filled by the waters of the Venzonassa stream.

The city, proclaimed a national monument in 1965, destroyed by the 1976 earthquake, was rebuilt stone by stone.

The first inhabited nucleus arose around the Cathedral in the Carolingian period.

The first document in which Venzone is mentioned dates back to 1001: the emperor Otto III granted the herbatic of the Canal del Ferro to the patriarch of Aquileia, a concession of great value at a time when the Friulian plain was covered with marshes and the very scarce grass.

In 1258 Glizoio di Mels begins the construction of the fortifications by raising walls 8 meters high.

After many events in 1420 the city became part of the Republic of Venice and began its period of maximum splendor. Do not miss the disturbing and mysterious Chapel of San Michele, where the famous mummies are kept. The history of mummies dates back to 1647 when the famous mummy called "del gobbo" was discovered.