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…
Must-see attractions in Friuli Venezia Giulia
Spilimbergo
The mosaic school in Spilimbergo is one of Friuli's most fascinating places. Although established in 1922 in a post-war effort to provide vocational…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Udine
This intimate oratory has a dramatic ceiling painting of the Assumption by Giambattista Tiepolo, with a glowing Madonna framed by tumbling, rather…
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…
Pordenone
This unique museum dedicated to the art of comic books and illustration is the only one of its kind in Europe and is the brainchild of Pordenone’s dynamic…
Trieste
Trieste’s elegant lighthouse, with its 68m-high, fluted tower and copper dome sporting a soaring Winged Victory, is perched on the Gretta Hill and worth a…
Trieste
This former rice-husking plant became a concentration camp in 1943 and has been a national monument and museum since the 1960s. The site commemorates the…
Trieste
Much of the graceful city-centre area north of Corso Italia dates to the 18th-century reign of Empress Maria Theresa, including the photogenic Canal…
Udine
A shimmering Renaissance epiphany materialising from the surrounding maze of medieval streets, Piazza della Libertà is dubbed the most beautiful Venetian…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
The Carso's big-ticket attraction is this enormous underground cavern near the town of Opicina. At 120m high, 280m long and 65m wide, it's one of the…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Opened in 1882, Aquileia’s archaeological museum is one of the oldest in Italy. Recently renovated, its rich and varied collection has been superbly…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Cividale's most important sight is this stunning complex that houses the only surviving example of Lombard architecture and artwork in Europe. Built in…
Trieste
This vast public space – Italy's largest sea-facing piazza – is an elegant triumph of Austro-Hungarian town planning and contemporary civil pride…
Trieste
This imposing and richly decorated neoclassical synagogue, built in 1912, is testament to Trieste's once significant Jewish community. Heavily damaged…
La Costiera Triestina
After 40 years of wrangling and €400 million, this immaculate, whitewashed resort has finally emerged from what was an abandoned quarry. Come for a day of…
Trieste
This elegant urban villa set in a large garden belonged to the haute bourgeoisie Sartorio family, who amassed a huge collection of art, ceramics and…
Pordenone
Named for designer Arieto Bertoia, author of the famous 1951 ‘Diamond Chair’ (a web-like chrome chair in the shape of a diamond), this smart little museum…
Sacrario militare di Redipuglia
Friuli Venezia Giulia
The breathtaking war memorial of Redipuglia is the largest commemorative shrine in Italy and one of the largest in the world. Designed by Giovanni Greppi…
Udine
Rebuilt in the mid-16th century after an earthquake in 1511, Udine's castle affords rare views of the city and snowy peaks beyond. It houses a number of…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Cividale’s 16th-century, Venetian-Gothic cathedral sits on an ancient 8th-century church and is filled with unusual treasures. Among them is the lacquered…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Southeast of Trieste is this natural wilderness, shaped by the passage of the Rosandra stream, which starts in Slovenia, tumbles off the Karst plateau and…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
The historic, wood-panelled library is one of Italy’s oldest and most venerated libraries, founded in 1466 by humanist Guarniero d’Artegna and later…
Trieste
James Joyce would enjoy the irony: his museum really belongs to friend and fellow literary great, Italo Svevo, housing a significant collection of the…
Grado
Grado's historic core is dominated by this Romanesque basilica, dating to AD 579. Its rich interior decoration indicates its early importance when the…
La Costiera Triestina
Fourteen kilometres northwest along the coast from Miramare, this 14th- and 15th-century bastion picturesquely marches down the cliff, surrounded by a…
Parco Archeologico di Muggia Vecchia
La Costiera Triestina
Above the old fishing port of Muggia, at the top of Monte Castellier (170m), is a small archaeological park with the ruins of the original Roman castrum…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Gorizia's main sight is its castle; perched atop a knoll-like hill it has served as a fortress, barracks and prison. It has some convincing recreations…
Riserva Naturale Regionale della Valle Cavanata
Grado
This reserve protects a 1920s fish-farming area and extraordinary birdlife in the east of the lagoon. More than 230 bird species have been observed,…
Museo Carnico delle Arti e Tradizioni Popolari
Friuli Venezia Giulia
This four-storey museum has a rich display of artisanal furniture and folkloric objects dating from the 14th to the early 19th century. They're…
Udine
This 13-room gallery showcases the work of local and Venetian artists from the end of the 14th- to the early 19th-century. There are a handful of…
Riserva Naturale Regionale Foce dell'Isonzo
Grado
The final stretch of the Isonzo river's journey into the Adriatic flows through this 23.5-sq-km nature reserve where visitors can birdwatch, horse ride or…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Constructed from 1654 to 1724, the onion-shaped domes of this high-baroque Jesuit church watch over Gorizia's old town square. The interior is richly…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Splitting the town in two is the symbolic Devil's Bridge that crosses the emerald green Natisone river. The 22m-high bridge was first constructed in the…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
More beautiful than the cathedral is the deconsecrated church of San Antonio Abate (the patron saint of butchers), which is covered in vibrant frescoes by…
Trieste
James Joyce's presence in the city is palpable, but if you're not feeling it, this bronze statue will help. He's often surrounded by Irish visitors and…
