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'Cividāt no je une vile, ma une
ponte di citāt' /Cividale is not a
village but a small town, as the
lines of a famous Friulian villotta
rightly sing: Cividale, in fact, since
its foundation by the
Romans, was the
main city in the area and under
the Lombards the capital of
the Duchy of Friuli. Still
today, thanks to its
urban plan, its
monuments, the
evidence of a rich and
glorious past, and the
works of art in its
churches and museums,
it is one of Friuli's
gems. It is the reference
point for numerous towns
and villages, especially for
those in the River Natisone Valleys,
characterized by a Slav dialect that has
distant origins and by a rural architecture and
artistic culture that are very similar to those of
nearby Slovenia. The picturesque cave of Antro,
unique in its kind in the Region, the exceptional
Duomo Museum and the airy Devil's Bridge in
Cividale, the two charming small churches of
Cravero where Renaissance
painting and Baroque sculpture happily co-exist,
the much visited Sanctuary of Castelmonte, all
this allows visitors to come in contact with
ancient different cultures at a short distance
from each other. The so-called "triangle of the
chair", with its centre in Manzano, is not only
famous for its worldwide
renown furniture
production, but also for
its gently rolling hills and
extensive vineyards where
exceptional wines are
produced, as noble Picolit,
hills and vineyards
dominated from above by the
medieval Abbey of Rosazzo
(the monasterium rosarum, as
it was called in 1161) and by
the austere Rocca Bernarda,
that, according to
tradition, was built by
Giovanni da Udine.
Industrious towns,
that have often
remodelled the landscape to allow room for
industrial activities, but never have deleted the
traces of their past, as witnessed by the many
noble residences, sometimes gracefully frescoed,
of S. Giovanni al Natisone and Buttrio,
Moimacco and Povoletto.
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