Aquileia is a comune in the province of Udine, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, at 5 meters above sea level.

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.

Is there a sagra or a festival in Aquileia?

Yes. Festa dell'Unità. July is when the first of them falls.

Which other towns are like Aquileia?

Gabicce Mare, Campi Salentina and Grado.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia · Udine

Aquileia

A village of 3,128 on a Roman capital of 100,000, where the largest paleochristian mosaic floor in the West runs under a Romanesque basilica.

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.

When to visit

Best · May–Sep

J9°
F11°
M14°
A17°
M22°
J26°
J30°
A30°
S25°
O20°
N14°
D9°

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in August at 28° and coldest in February at 10°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Ermagora e Fortunato, 12 July

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.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Aquileia’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

How to get there

From Venice (TSF), about 1h 36m by car.

Verona (VRN) is about 2h 49m away.

By car from the centre of Udine 43 minutes or Trieste 57 minutes.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Venice?

Coming by train into Trieste Centrale? Aquileia is about 54 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Venice airport.

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.
Sepolcreto Romano
Stretch of the Via Annia lined with five family tombs from the first and second centuries, the most complete Roman funerary street in the region.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Aquileia fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Festa dell'Unitàpatron saint's feast
usually held across July and August. Sagre FVG (Uolli)

Living here

Population 3,128
Commuter belti
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Venice, 1 h 36 min drive
Regional capital Trieste, 57 min drive

Common questions

What is Aquileia known for?: Aquileia is a village of 3,128 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?: Venice (TSF), about 1h 36m by car.
Can you get to Aquileia without a car?: Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Udine to Aquileia?: About 43 minutes 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.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Aquileia?: Yes. Festa dell'Unità. July is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Aquileia?: Gabicce Mare, Campi Salentina and Grado.
How many people live in Aquileia?: 3,128 at the 2023 count.

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 5 m
Population: 3,128
Surface area: 37.44 km²

On the map

Google Maps Apple Maps Directions from Udine

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.

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