Cividale

Cividale stands on the Natisone at the foot of the eastern Alps. Founded by the Romans as Forum Iulii, it gave its name to Friuli and later became the seat of a Lombard duchy. The patriarchs of Aquileia also resided here, leaving churches and monuments that recall the town's early importance.

Cividale had been chosen as the capital of the patriarchal state in 1077. The patriarchs' move to Udine in 1238 sharpened rivalry between the two cities. In 1409 Pope Gregory XII held a council at Cividale during the Western Schism, but it attracted little support. The Republic of Venice annexed the town in 1420, bringing it into its mainland state. Cividale's older religious and civic buildings remained as reminders of its Lombard and patriarchal past.