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Friuli Venezia Giulia

With its triple-barrelled moniker, Friuli Venezia Giulia's multifaceted nature should come as no surprise. Cultural complexity is cherished in this small, little-visited region, tucked away on Italy's far northeastern borders with Austria and Slovenia. Its landscapes offer profound contrasts too, with the perpetually snowy Giulie and Carnic Alps in the north, idyllic grapevine-filled plains in the centre, sandy beaches along the southern shore, and limpid lagoons and craggy karst cliffs encircling the regional capital, Trieste.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta
Friuli Venezia Giulia
The entire floor of the Latin cross-shaped basilica, rebuilt after an earthquake in 1348, is covered with one of the largest and most spectacular Roman…
Castello di Miramare
La Costiera Triestina
Sitting on a rocky outcrop 7km from Trieste, Castello di Miramare is the city's elegiac bookend, the fanciful neo-Gothic home of the hapless Archduke…
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
Udine
Udine’s modern and contemporary hub brings together a number of bequests, creating a substantial collection of 20th-century Italian artists, including De…
Museo Revoltella
Trieste
This extraordinary house-museum was the home of wealthy Triestini merchant Pasquale Revoltella, who made his fortune in the timber industry and had a hand…
Santuario di Barbana
Grado
Situated on an island in the lagoon, the Barbana sanctuary is an ancient shrine, the origins of which date back to 582. The current church dates to the…
Chiesa di Santo Spiridione
Trieste
Constructed from pearly white Istrian stone in 1868, the Serbian Orthodox church has a typical Byzantine style, its large central dome flanked by four…
Oratorio della Purità
Udine
This intimate oratory has a dramatic ceiling painting of the Assumption by Giambattista Tiepolo, with a glowing Madonna framed by tumbling, rather…
Museo del Monte San Michele
Friuli Venezia Giulia
This small interactive museum deploys digital displays and an excellent virtual-reality experience to explore the horrors of the Italian front in the…