Overview
Orange Flag of the Italian Touring Club, Italy's most beautiful villages, UNESCO site
Founded by Julius Caesar as Forum Iulii, hence the name Friuli, Cividale later became the seat of the first Lombard duchy in Italy and later, for several centuries, the residence of the Patriarchs of Aquileia.
Today, Cividale still preserves significant Lombard testimonies, first and foremost the Tempietto, one of the most extraordinary and mysterious pieces of early medieval architecture in the West. Longobard sculptures are also preserved in the Christian Museum and the National Archaeological Museum.
In 2011, this historical and artistic heritage was recognised by UNESCO, which placed Cividale at the beginning of the Longobard route in Italy in an itinerary that allows visitors to discover stupendous, yet little-known treasures, starting right in Friuli Venezia Giulia.
One of the most popular and lively squares in the historic centre is dedicated to Paolo Diacono, the Cividale author of the Historia Langobardorum. From here you can start your walk towards Piazza Duomo until you reach the Ponte del Diavolo (Devil's Bridge), with a suggestive view over the Natisone River.
Cividale is surrounded by the Colli Orientali del Friuli, where renowned and excellent DOC and DOCG wines are produced from various grape varieties, including some indigenous ones: Picolit, Friulano and Verduzzo among the whites, Pignolo, Schioppettino and Tazzelenghe among the reds.
33043 Cividale del Friuli UD, Italia
