Cividale del Friuli: the Devil's village
Cividale del Friuli, Natisone river Cividale del Friuli, located in the territory of the Natisone valleys, close to the Slovenian border, is one of the most interesting and magical villages to visit in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia . Founded in the I century BC by Julius Caesar, it later became the first capital of the Lombard duchy in Italy and then Civitas Austriae with the Franks. Eventually, it saw the hegemony of the Patriarchate and then the Venetian dominion. This historical and cultural mix makes it a real jewel and walking along its streets is like taking a journey through time. Its most famous attraction is without any doubt, the Longobard temple , a World Heritage Site since 2011. It is a unique structure, a stone chapel built in the 1700s and used until 1893 as an oratory of the Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle. The first glance is breathtaking: a tall and narrow chapel, topped by a stone arch decorated with openwork tracery and the large statues of saints and martyrs...