Cividale del Friuli (Forum Iulii) was founded by Julius Caesar in approximately 50 BC as a fortified colonial town on the Natisone river in the northeastern Alps -- the settlement that gave the Friuli region its name (Forum Iulii becoming Friuli in the medieval transformation). In 568 AD the Lombards under Alboin crossed the Alps and made Cividale their first Italian administrative capital -- the first Duchy of the Lombard kingdom in Italy, with Cividale as the seat. The Tempietto Longobardo (the Little Lombard Temple, 8th century) inside the Monastero di Santa Maria in Valle is the finest surviving Lombard architectural interior in the world -- a small oratory with stucco reliefs of the Virgin and six standing female saints of extraordinary quality, the only Lombard stucco programme that survives essentially complete. UNESCO 2011 included Cividale as the primary monument in the Longobards in Italy serial designation. The Devil's Bridge (Ponte del Diavolo, 15th century) over the Natisone gorge is one of the most photographed medieval bridges in northeastern Italy. Friuli guide
Plan my Italy trip →Region: Friuli-Venezia Giulia, province of Udine | Founded: c.50 BC (Julius Caesar, Forum Iulii) | Lombard capital: 568-776 AD | UNESCO: 2011 (Longobards in Italy series) | Tempietto Longobardo: Entry EUR 4, Via Monastero Maggiore | Distance from Udine: 17 km | Distance from Venice: 120 km
The Tempietto Longobardo (Little Lombard Temple) is a small 8th-century oratory inside the Monastero di Santa Maria in Valle in Cividale -- a single room approximately 10 metres by 5 metres, with a round apse, a floor of original 8th-century stone paving, and the stucco relief programme that makes it unique in European early medieval art. The stucco programme: six standing female saints on the entrance wall (the surviving original figures from a larger group -- three survive from the original six, with three replacements from a later restoration), carved in high relief from lime stucco mixed with river sand to a composition no modern analysis has fully replicated. The figures are in the specific Lombard 8th-century style that combines late Roman provincial realism with Byzantine formal convention -- each saint is individualised, holds a specific attribute, and is identified by inscription. The quality argument: contemporary Byzantine stucco (as at the Oratory of Sant'Apollinare in Ravenna) is thinner and more decorative; the Tempietto stucco figures have a three-dimensional relief depth and a specific material density that gives them a sculptural presence unlike any other surviving early medieval stucco programme. The ceiling: the original wooden coffered ceiling with painted ornament is largely preserved in the apse -- one of the few surviving 8th-century painted wooden ceilings in Italy. Entry approximately EUR 4; the visit includes both the Tempietto and the adjacent museum.
Julius Caesar established the Forum Iulii colony in approximately 50-45 BC as part of the fortification of the northeastern frontier against Alpine tribal movements. The Roman colonists established the standard forum-basilica-temple urban plan; the Natisone river gorge (still visible below the Devil's Bridge) provided natural defensive advantage on the south side. The Lombard period (568-776 AD): the Lombard king Alboin crossed the Alps in 568 and established the first Lombard duchy in Italy at Cividale, which remained the primary Friulian administrative centre through the Lombard period (until the Frankish conquest under Charlemagne in 774-776). The specific Lombard contribution to Cividale: the Tempietto, the gold fibulae and jewellery now in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico (the finest Lombard goldwork collection in Italy), and the topographic imprint of the Lombard city plan that the medieval city preserved. The name etymology: Forum Iulii = Lombard Furlan = Italian Friuli. The Friulian language (friulano, a Rhaeto-Romance language with approximately 300,000 speakers, legally recognised as a regional minority language in 2001) traces its name directly to the Roman colonial foundation.
The Ponte del Diavolo (Devil's Bridge, 1442) spans the Natisone river gorge at a point where the river has cut through the limestone rock to a depth of approximately 22 metres -- the bridge's single large arch (22 metres span) over the gorge is the most dramatic medieval bridge structure in northeastern Italy. The name refers to the medieval legend that the bridge was built in a single night by the Devil, who demanded the soul of the first person to cross; the townspeople solved the problem by sending a dog across first. The bridge was destroyed in the World War I retreat of Italian forces (1917, the Caporetto front) and rebuilt to its current profile using the original 15th-century design. The gorge below the bridge: the Natisone flows through a narrow limestone canyon before opening into the Udine plain; the combination of the medieval bridge, the turquoise-green river colour (the Natisone's specific mineral composition), and the canyon walls gives the most photographed view in Cividale.
Cividale del Friuli (formerly Forum Iulii, founded c.50 BC by Julius Caesar) is famous for: the Tempietto Longobardo (the finest surviving Lombard architectural interior, 8th century stucco reliefs, UNESCO 2011, entry EUR 4); the Museo Nazionale Archeologico with the finest Lombard gold fibulae and jewellery collection in Italy; the Ponte del Diavolo (Devil's Bridge, 1442) over the Natisone gorge; and the historic centre preserving the first Lombard capital in Italy layout. 17 km from Udine; 120 km from Venice; 60 km from Trieste.
Cividale del Friuli is 17 km from Udine -- approximately 25 minutes by regional train (Trenitalia Udine-Cividale service, approximately 6 trains per day; approximately EUR 2.50 one way). From Venice: approximately 120 km, 1h 30min by train (Venice-Udine Frecciarossa or InterCity, then regional to Cividale). From Trieste: 65 km, approximately 1 hour by car via the A4 motorway and Udine. A car is useful for the Friulian wine zone circuit around Cividale (the Collio and Friuli Colli Orientali DOC zones are in the hills immediately around the town -- direct producer visits possible). Cividale is a logical 2-hour side trip from Udine or a half-day from Venice on a Friuli circuit.
The Tempietto Longobardo (Little Lombard Temple) is an 8th-century oratory inside the Monastero di Santa Maria in Valle, Cividale del Friuli -- the finest surviving Lombard architectural interior in Europe, UNESCO 2011. The room (10m x 5m) has: stucco relief figures of six standing female saints (three original, three later restoration) of extraordinary quality, the only substantially complete Lombard stucco programme surviving; a preserved 8th-century stone floor; original painted wooden apse ceiling elements; and the specific early medieval spatial atmosphere of a room where the 8th-century artistic programme is legible. Entry EUR 4; one of the least visited UNESCO sites in northern Italy despite its exceptional quality.
The Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Cividale del Friuli has the most important Lombard gold and precious metal collection in Italy -- the finds from the Lombard necropolises of the Cividale area (6th-8th century burials with grave goods including: gold fibulae with filigree and cloisonne enamel decoration; helmet fragments; sword pommels with gold inlay; and the specific Lombard jewellery tradition that combined Roman late antique goldsmithing techniques with the Central Asian nomadic aesthetic of the Lombard migration origin). The Longobard helmet of Cividale (the most significant single object in the collection, partially preserved) is a rare example of Lombard warrior equipment of the highest social rank. Entry approximately EUR 6; combined ticket with the Tempietto available.
The Friuli Colli Orientali DOC zone (the Eastern Friulian Hills) surrounds Cividale del Friuli -- the hills immediately east and north of the town produce the finest white wines in northeastern Italy and some of the most distinctive Italian whites overall. Key varieties: Friulano (formerly Tocai Friulano -- the primary white of the zone, a nutty, almond-character white wine; the most typical Friulian white); Ribolla Gialla (the most ancient Friulian variety, lean, crisp, increasingly used for natural and orange wine production); Picolit (the rarest and most expensive Friulian wine -- a late-harvest sweet white of legendary quality, maximum 600 bottles per hectare, price EUR 40-100+ per bottle); and Ramandolo DOCG (a sweet white from the Verduzzo grape, the most specific sweet wine of the zone). Direct producer visits: the Cividale tourist office provides the current list of DOC estates open for visits in the immediate area.
Cividale Tempietto Longobardo UNESCO + Devil's Bridge + Friuli Colli Orientali wine tasting + Udine + Aquileia Roman site -- the complete northeast Italy circuit.
Plan my Friuli trip →Friulian (furlan, also spelled furlano) is a Rhaeto-Romance language closely related to Ladin and Romansh, spoken by approximately 300,000 to 600,000 people in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (estimates vary; the 2011 Italian census recorded 300,000 Friulian speakers as a first language). Friulian was recognised as a regional minority language by Italian national law in 1999 (Law 482) and by regional law in 2001. The language derives from the Latin spoken by the Roman colonists of Forum Iulii (Cividale del Friuli), hence the connection to the Caesar foundation date. Friulian is taught in some Friulian schools and universities; it has a literary tradition dating from the 13th century (one of the first vernacular texts in any Rhaeto-Romance language); and it has been associated specifically with the poet Pier Paolo Pasolini (born 1922 in Bologna but raised in Friuli, who wrote some of his earliest poetry in Friulian dialect).
Aquileia (30 km south of Cividale, near the Adriatic coast) was the most important Roman city in northeastern Italy -- founded 181 BC as a Roman colony on the Natisone-Isonzo plain, it became the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire (after Rome, Milan, and Capua) with a population estimated at 100,000 in the 2nd century AD. The Aquileia basilica (4th-11th century) has the finest surviving early Christian floor mosaic programme in the world (750 square metres of 4th-century mosaic, UNESCO 1998). The relationship with Cividale: Aquileia was the Roman imperial and early Christian centre of the northeast; Cividale was the administrative and military node on the Alpine frontier. When the Lombards crossed the Alps in 568, they attacked Aquileia and then established their capital at Cividale -- the shift from the coastal Roman city to the inland Alpine gateway reflects the Lombard military priorities. Combining Cividale (Lombard capital) with Aquileia (Roman imperial city) in a single day gives the complete northeast Italy late Roman-early medieval circuit.
The Friuli food tradition around Cividale: frico (the Friulian speciality -- shredded Montasio cheese melted and crisped into a disk, sometimes with potato, the most characteristic Friulian food; the frico croccante version is cheese-only and resembles a large cheese crisp; the frico morbido version adds potato and onion); gubana (the specific Friulian yeast pastry filled with walnuts, raisins, grappa, and spices -- the most important festival pastry of the Friulian tradition, traditionally made for Easter and Christmas); and the Collio-area cured meats (the San Daniele Prosciutto DOP, produced 20 km northwest of Cividale in San Daniele del Friuli, is the specific northeastern Italian answer to the Parma prosciutto -- both are DOP, both are excellent, but San Daniele has a slightly sweeter character from the specific San Daniele microclimate and the longer traditional curing period).