Friuli-Venezia Giulia · Udine
Aquileia
A village of 3,124 on a Roman capital of 100,000, where the largest paleochristian mosaic floor in the West runs under a Romanesque basilica.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Aquileia is on our list
It holds UNESCO and Città del Vino.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 43 min from Udine
- Population
- 3,124
- J9°
- F11°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J26°
- J30°
- A30°
- S25°
- O20°
- N14°
- D9°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 28° and coldest in February at 10°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Aquileia sits at five meters above sea level on the Friuli plain, ten kilometers inland from the Adriatic at the head of the Grado lagoon. Rome founded it as a military colony in 181 BC. By the second century AD it held close to 100,000 people, was the capital of Augustus's Regio X, and ranked among the nine great cities of the empire.
Attila's Huns sacked it in 452, the population scattered to the lagoon islands, and the surface town never recovered. The Roman city below is largely unexcavated, which makes Aquileia, in UNESCO's words, the most complete example of an Early Roman city in the Mediterranean. Above it, Patriarch Poppo rebuilt the basilica in 1031 over a fourth-century church.
Its floor is the largest paleochristian mosaic in the Western world, 760 square meters of fish, birds, jonah and the whale, uncovered by archaeologists in 1909. The 73-meter campanile uses stone quarried from the Roman amphitheater. The Patriarchate of Aquileia survived until 1751.
How to get there
From Treviso (TSF), about 1 h 36 min by car.
Verona (VRN) is about 2 h 49 min away.
By car from the center of Udine 43 min or Trieste 57 min.
Coming from Venice?
Coming by train into Trieste Centrale? Aquileia is about 54 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Treviso airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta
Patriarch Poppo's eleventh-century basilica over a fourth-century church, with a 760-square-meter paleochristian mosaic floor uncovered in 1909.
Campanile di Poppo
Free-standing 73-meter bell tower built in the eleventh century with stone quarried from the Roman amphitheater, raised again in the fourteenth.
Foro Romano
Excavated section of the Roman forum along the Via Sacra, with the bases of columns and reused capitals from the second century AD.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale
Glass, amber, mosaics, gemstones, and the largest collection of Roman portrait busts in northern Italy, from the imperial city below.
Porto Fluviale
Stone quays of the Roman river port on the Natissa, the harbor that linked Aquileia to the Adriatic and to the Danube trade upriver.
Living here
Could you live here?
Aquileia is a village with a town close by.
- A village of 3,124, with Grado (7,532 people) 9 min away for the shopping and a meal out. Our rule is a town within 15 minutes.
- Gorizia, a city of 33,620, is 38 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 3,124, down 7% since 2015
- Nearest city Gorizia, 38 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Monfalcone, 14 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €850 to €1,200 per m² to buy, €3.20 to €4.80 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 88% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Trieste airport (TRS), 19 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Trieste, 57 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Ukraine, Romania and Poland, against 9% across Italy. 17 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany. There are 383 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 23% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Udine province ranks 3rd of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Monfalcone, 14 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Udine, 34 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Udine, 34 km away. The nearest IB school is UWC Adriatic, 18 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
Friuli Venezia Giulia has its own property tax, ILIA, in place of IMU. The town adds between 0.3% and 0.78% to your income tax, depending on your income, with nothing due on income under €15,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Friuli-Venezia Giulia spends about €2,350 a month, €520 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €478 a year for water, on the Friuli-Venezia Giulia average. In Udine, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.41, a meal in a pizzeria €12.99 and a man's haircut €27.17.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 13% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 23% in a high or medium one. They show no residents in a high landslide zone.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
MOSAIC FLOOR
The 760-square-meter paleochristian pavement under the basilica, the largest in the Western world, dated to the fourth century.
BURIED ROMAN CITY
Population peaked near 100,000 in the second century AD; most of the imperial city remains unexcavated beneath fields and the modern village.
PATRIARCHATE
Seat of the Patriarchate of Aquileia from the sixth century until the Vatican suppressed it in 1751, governing a vast Adriatic and Alpine diocese.
Common questions
- What is Aquileia known for?
- Aquileia is a village of 3,124 on a Roman capital of 100,000, where the largest paleochristian mosaic floor in the West runs under a Romanesque basilica.
- Where is Aquileia?
- Aquileia is a comune in the province of Udine, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, at 5 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Aquileia?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Trieste (TRS), about 19 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Udine to Aquileia?
- About 43 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Aquileia?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Aquileia?
- Grado, Numana and Gabicce Mare.
- How many people live in Aquileia?
- 3,124 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Aquileia a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Aquileia is a village with a town of 5,000 people within 15 minutes (Grado, 9 min). The nearest city, Gorizia, is 38 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Monfalcone, 14 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 88% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 5 m
- Population: 3,124
- Surface area: 37.44 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Aquileia appears in
- The best coastal towns within two hours of PaduaNear Paduacoastalwithin 2 hours6 towns · smallest 1,674 residents · closest 49 min away
- The best coastal towns within two hours of UdineNear Udinecoastalwithin 2 hours6 towns · smallest 1,674 residents · closest 43 min away
- The best coastal towns within two hours of VeniceNear Venicecoastalwithin 2 hours6 towns · smallest 1,674 residents · closest 46 min away
- The best towns with a World Heritage site within two hours of TriesteNear Triestewithin 2 hoursWorld Heritage6 towns · smallest 3,124 residents · closest 50 min away
- The best towns with a World Heritage site within two hours of UdineNear Udinewithin 2 hoursWorld Heritage10 towns · smallest 2,478 residents · closest 26 min away
- The best wine towns in Friuli-Venice GiuliaFriuli-Venezia Giuliawine10 towns · smallest 3,124 residents
Similar
Towns like Aquileia
What all six share with Aquileia: on the Adriatic coast · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · near sea level
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