Cividale del Friuli is located at the foot of the Eastern Friuli hills, on the banks of the Natisone river, 17 km from Udine, on the road linking the Friuli plain to the middle and upper Soca Valley in Slovenia. It was founded by Julius Caesar as Forum Iulii, which later gave the name to the whole region, and it later became the Lombard capital of Friuli.

Rich in natural beauty, history and culture, Cividale del Friuli boasts many reasons for enticing visitors, such as the “Lombard Temple” (eighth century), the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta ((XV – XVI century), the Christian Museum with the baptistery of Callisto (VIII century) and the altar of Rachtis (approx. 730-740 CE). There are masterpieces of Lombard sculpture, the Palace of the Venetian Superintendents, built between 1565 and 1605 on a model of Palladio, which houses the national archaeological Museum of Cividale del Friuli, and the devil’s Bridge with the picturesque view of the Natisone and which, as legend has it, was built by the devil in exchange for the first passer-by.

Cividale also hosts a great many events, ranging from the historical pageant which enacts the entry into Cividale of Patriarch Marquard von Randeck (1366), to the Mittelfest – an important international event for Central European theatre. Also worth a mention are the San Donato Palio, the “Rally del Friuli e delle Alpi Orientali” [Friuli and Eastern Alps Rally], the “Eastern Alps Historic Rally” and the Fiera di San Martino.