5 Best Sights in The Veneto and Friuli–Venezia Giulia, Italy

Seeing the beautiful and historically important Tempietto Longobardo from the 8th century is more than enough reason to visit Cividale. Now inside the 16th-century Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle, the Tempietto was originally the chapel of the ducal palace, known as the Gastaldia. The west wall is the best-preserved example of the art and architecture of the Lombards, a Germanic people who entered Italy in 568. It has an archway with an exquisitely rendered vine motif, guarded by an 8th-century procession of female figures, showing the Lombard interpretation of classical forms that resembles the style of the much earlier Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna, a town that had passed briefly to Lombard rule in 737. The post-Lombard frescoes decorating the vaults and the east wall date from the 13th and 14th centuries, and the fine carved wooden stalls also date from the 14th century.

Cividale's Renaissance Duomo is largely the work of Pietro Lombardo, principal architect of Venice's famous Santa Maria dei Miracoli. The interior was restructured in the 18th century by another prominent Venetian architect, Giorgio Massari. The church contains a magnificent 12th-century silver gilt altarpiece.

Trace the area's history here and learn about the importance of Cividale and Udine in the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire. The collection includes Roman mosaics and epigraphs as well as weapons and exquisite jewelry from 6th-century Lombard warriors, who swept through much of what is now Italy.

Entered via a courtyard to the right of the Duomo, this museum contains two interesting, important, and surprisingly beautiful monuments of Lombard art: the Altar of Duke Ratchis (737–744) and the Baptistry of Patriarch Callisto (731–776). Both were found under the floor of the present Duomo in the early 20th century. The museum also has two fine paintings by Veronese, one by Il Pordenone, and a small collection of medieval and Renaissance vestments.

Opened in 2020 and housed in a magnificent historic palazzo, originally dating from the 15th century, the Gallery showcases the De Martiis family's exquisite collection of 20th-century art. Among the figurative works is a saucy Toulouse-Lautrec, and there are eye-popping Impressionist masterpieces by Karel Appel and Victor Vasarely.  For tourist info visit the ground floor Sportello Informacittà.