Rich in early medieval works of art, Cividale del Friuli (Udine) preserves precious testimonies of its Lombard past and is the starting point for the UNESCO itinerary dedicated to the legacy that this mysterious people left to Italy.
Notable elements of the city include the national archaeological museum, the Christian Museum and treasure of the cathedral, the Lombard temple and mysterious Celtic hypogeum, a place of unknown use which underwent phases of construction in different periods: It may have been a burial area in the Celtic era, a prison in Roman and Lombard times.
The Lombard temple is an extraordinary example of early medieval architecture: it consists of a square hall with a cross vault and a presbytery with three barrel-vaulted naves and is also embellished with frescoes created by Byzantine workers, and stucco decorations, including the archivolt decorated with a vine branch and bunches surmounted by six female stucco figures. Origins, dating and function are uncertain, but the prevailing theory holds that the small temple was built in the second half of the 8th century as a chapel for the Female Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle.
Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission
Piazza Duca degli Abruzzi 3 — 34132 Trieste
Phone: +39 040 3720142
Email: filmcommission@promoturismo.fvg.it
