Udine

Udine lies on the Friulian plain beneath the eastern Alps. Its castle was granted to the patriarchs of Aquileia by Emperor Otto II in 983, and in the thirteenth century the patriarchs made the growing town a principal residence. A market established in 1223 helped it become a leading centre of the region.

Patriarch Bertoldo of Andechs had moved here after an earthquake damaged his residence at Cividale. Venice conquered Udine in 1420 and governed Friuli from the city. In 1511 a brief civil war was followed by an earthquake and plague, bringing successive disasters to its inhabitants. Udine remained Venetian until the fall of the republic in 1797. Austrian rule followed, interrupted by the Napoleonic period when the city belonged to the French-aligned Kingdom of Italy.