Cividale del Friuli: a Lombard city

Cividale del Friuli is an Italian town of 10 974 inhabitants in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Founded in Roman times by Julius Caesar with the name of Forum Iulii, from which the whole region took its name, it became the Lombard capital of Friuli. In 568 d. C. Cividale became the seat of the first Lombard duchy in Italy and later, for some centuries, the residence of the Patriarchs of Aquileia. The city preserves significant Lombard testimonies, first of all the Tempietto, one of the most extraordinary and mysterious western high-medieval architecture. Of particular historical beauty is the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, which stands on the site of an ancient basilica of the eighth century. The Cathedral presents a mixture of styles: Venetian-Gothic and Renaissance. Inside the Duomo complex we can find the Christian Museum, which contains some valuable works of Lombard art, such as: the Baptistery of Callisto, the Altar of Ratchis, the Bust of San Donato and the Sword of the Patriarch. In Cividale there is also the National Archaeological Museum, where we can find the grave goods of the Lombard necropolis of Cividale. This historical and artistic heritage in 2011 was recognized by UNESCO, which placed Cividale at the beginning of the Lombard path in Italy.