Patriarchal Basilica
If you passing or staying in Friuli-Venezia Guilia Region in Italy there is a small town worth of your visit. 11 kilometers from Grado, 15 kilometers from Palmanova, 38 kilometers from Udine and 55 kilometers from Trieste is located Aquileia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Aquileia was an important city already in the Early Roman Empire and later played an important role in the Christianization of larger region of Central Europe as the see of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
Aquileia is the most important archaeological site in Northern Italy, however, because visit of its magnificent and well-preserved ruins and monuments takes only few hours it makes it a perfect jaunt. Besides the Patriarchal Basilica with the finest early Christian mosaics of Western Europe, worth seeing are also the forum, river port, ruins of private houses with splendid and well-preserved mosaics, the burial ground and the National Archaeological Museum with one of the greatest archaeological collections in Northern Italy and essential for understanding of Aquileia’s history. If you have some time left you will not regret spending it in the Early Christian Museum which houses the priceless collection of early Christian documents from the 4th century to the patriarchal period, early Christian mosaics and other magnificent art treasures.
