Aquileia, Italy Summary

Forty-five kilometres west of Trieste, AQUILEIA was established as a Roman colony in 181 BC, its location at the eastern edge of the Venetian plain – on the bank of a navigable river a few kilometres from the sea – being ideal for defensive and trading purposes. It became the nexus for all Rome’s dealings with points east and north, and by 10 BC, when the Emperor Augustus received Herod the Great here, Aquileia was the capital of the Regio Venetia et Histria and the fourth most important city in Italy, after Rome, Milan and Capua. In 314 the famous Patriarchate of Aquileia was founded, and under the first patriarch, Theodore, a great basilica was built. Sacked by Attila in 452 and again by the Lombards in 568, Aquileia lost the patriarchate to Grado, which was protected from invasion by its lagoons. It regained its primacy in the early eleventh century under Patriarch Poppo, who rebuilt the basilica and erected the campanile, a landmark for miles around. But regional power inevitably passed to Venice, and in 1751 Aquileia lost its patriarchate for the last time, to Udine. The sea has long since retreated, and the River Natissa is a reed-clogged stream. Aquileia is now a dusty little town of 3500 people, bisected by Via Giulia Augusta, the main road to Grado, but the remnants of its ancient heyday make it one of northeast Italy’s most important archeological sites.