Cividale del Friuli is a city in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Understand

Statue of Julius Caesar in front of the Palazzo Pubblico (town hall)

Cividale del Friuli is a small jewel in the far north-eastern corner of Italy. Traditional histories say that it was founded by Julius Caesar, who gave the town its first recorded name: Forum Iulii (which has now become the name of Cividale's region, Friuli). However, archeologists have found remains of older Celtic settlements on the site.

In the Middle Ages, Cividale become a capital of the Lombards. Cividale was the seat of the Patriarch of Aquilea (as that Roman city had been destroyed by Huns) until the 1200s, when the Patriarchs moved to Udine.

In June 2011, Cividale and six other cities of the Lombards together were named a collective UNESCO World Heritage Site, Italia Langobardorum: Cividale del Friuli, Brescia, Castelseprio in the province of Varese, Spoleto, Campello sul Clitunno in the province of Perugia, Benevento and Monte Sant'Angelo. The recognition rewards Cividale's remarkable medieval treasures.

Get in

By train

From Udine, take a regional train to Cividale. The ride lasts about 20-25 minutes. Consult the timetable in advance.

Note that in Udine the trains depart from the normal train station, but train tickets for Cividale are sold from a newspaper kiosk in front of the train station building (not from the ticket desk or ticket machines). A ticket must be validated before boarding, but this can be done by a normal Trenitalia validator.

See

• 1 Lombard Temple (Tempietto Longobardo). Part of "Longobards in Italy, Places of Power" set of buildings which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. 
• 2 Museo Archeologico Nazionale (National Museum of Archaeology). 
• 3 Devil's Bridge (Ponte Del Diavolo). 

Sleep

• Locanda al Castello, Via del Castello 12, ☏ +39 0432 733242, +39 0432 734015. single €105, double €150. 

Go next

Udine - a city with a beautiful Venetian-style square and a small castle