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  • The Longobards - without architectural barriers

    Cividale preserves important monumental, artistic and cultural testimony of the Longobard civilization. Here the centres of power coincided with Gastaldaga, where the king’s estates were administered, as well as the Episcopal Complex, the religious centre. Both of these centres, heart of Longobard Cividale, are rich testimony of those times.

    The Gastaldaga area is in the so-called Area of the Valleys where the Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle stands annexed to the Longobard Temple (Oratory of Santa Maria in Valle), a unique historic and artistic monument, and, as it seems, steeped in mystery and still subject of study today.

    At that time the oratory room was decorated with marble, mosaics on a golden background and the doctrine of the saints on three sides of the complex: the celebrated stuccos have been enchanting visitors with their extraordinary beauty for almost thirteen centuries.

    Extensive testimony of the Longobards is preserved in two other museums in the town.
    The Christian Museum and Cathedral Treasure brings together highly prestigious sculptures including the celebrated Ratchis altar and the Baptistery of Callisto. The treasury of the Cathedral is worth a visit. It includes a precious collection of sacred archaeological treasures and a picture gallery with important works from Verona and Pordenone.

    If Cividale is a crown, one of its most precious jewels is the National Archaeological Museum situated in Provveditori Veneti Palace. It is difficult to describe its contents in just a few words: it includes Roman, early Christian and early Medieval artifacts, as well as more modern items.
    The Longobard collections should not be missed, a rare testimony of craftsmanship, of day-to-day life, funeral objects of the ancient population. The basement houses the remains of the Patriarchal Palace.


    Total time: approximately from 2.5 to 4 hours (visit to the Monastery, to the Christian Museum and the National Archaeological Museum with entrance fee)

    Distance: roughly 1.5 kilometres
    Difficulty level: low (the museums are also accessible for those with limited mobility)

    Starting point: Piazza Paolo Diacono, 10 (Informacittà Help Desk – Information and tourist centre)

    - Corso Mazzini
    - Piazza del Duomo: Palazzo Provveditori Veneti – now National Archaeologyical Museum (entrance cost and tour)
    - coming out of Archaeological Museum , cross Piazza del Duomo going in front of the Cathedral and enter Corso Paolino d’Aquileia
    - just past the Cathedral corner, enter via G.B. Candotti (which is slightly sloped) in the campanile direction and go on until the entrance of the Christian Museum and Cathedral Treasure (entry cost and tour)
    - exiting the Christian Museum go back to corso Paolino d’Aquileia and go down the road in the direction of the Devil's Bridge
    - turn into the second street on the left, via Monastero Maggiore and follow that until house number 36, where there is the entrance for people with limited mobility to the Santa Maria in Valle Monastery (entrance cost and tour)
    - exiting the Monastery go down via Monastero Maggiore in the direction of the Devil's Bridge, enter Corso Paolino d’Aquileia and return to the Cathedral Square

    There is also an alternative itinerary without architectural barriers:The Longobards - with architectural barriers
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  • The four faces of Cividale - without architectural barriers

    Cividale is so steeped in history that the visitor can actually feel it.

    The town has preserved the most important artistic and cultural features of its extremely wealthy past.

    A Roman, Longobard, Patriarchal and Veneto city these are the four different faces of Cividale, which visitors can still admire today in an unforgettable journey through time.

    Total time: total from around 2 hours and 30 minutes to 4 hours (possible visits to Monastery, to Christian museum and to National Archaeological Museum with entrance fees)

    Distance: circa 3 km

    Difficulty: low (the museums are accessible to people of limited mobility)


    Start: Piazza Paolo Diacono, 10 (Informacittà counter – Information and tourist centre)
    - Corso Paolino d’Aquileia, Town hall building;
    - Piazza del Duomo: National Archaeological Museum; Palazzo de Nordis and Cathedral;
    - just past the corner of the Cahedral, turn into Via G.B. Candotti (slight gradient): Christian Museum and Cathedral Treasure;
    - corso Paolino d’Aquileia towards Devil's bridge;
    -via Monastero Maggiore: Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle and Longobard Temple;
    - return throughvia Monastero Maggiore, in the direction of Devil's bridge;, and again corso Paolino d'Aquileia;
    - Largo Boiani, Foro Giulio Cesare, piazza Dante: Veneto Arsenal Porta S.Pietro;
    - via Ristori, Piazza Paolo Diacono.

    There is an alternative to this route without architectural barriers: The four faces of Cividale - with architectural barriers
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  • The 4 faces of Cividale

    Cividale is so steeped in history that the visitor can actually feel it.

    The town has preserved the most important artistic and cultural features of its extremely wealthy past.

    A Roman, Longobard, Patriarchal and Veneto city these are the four different faces of Cividale, which visitors can still admire today in an unforgettable journey through time.

    Total time: total from around 2 hours and 30 minutes to 4 hours (possible visits to Monastery, to Christian museum and to National Archaeological Museum with entrance fees)

    Distance: cc. 3 kilometres

    Difficulty: low (the museums are accessible to people of limited mobility)

    Start: Piazza Paolo Diacono, 10 (Informacittà counter – Information and tourist centre)
    - Corso Mazzini, corso Paolino d’Aquileia, via Monastero Maggiore: Celtic Hypogeum (stairs present)
    - Corso Paolino d’Aquileia, Town hall building;
    - Piazza del Duomo: National Archaeological Museum;
    - Stretta Pozzo di Callisto (stairs present), via Monastero Maggiore: Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle e Longobard Temple,
    - via Monastero Maggiore, stretta Cornelio Gallo, via G.B. Candotti (stairs present): Christian Museum and Cathedral Treasure;
    - Piazza del Duomo: Duomo e Palazzo de Nordis;
    - Largo Boiani, Foro Giulio Cesare, piazza Dante: Arsenale Veneto Porta S.Pietro;
    - via Ristori, Piazza Paolo Diacono

    There is an alternative to this route without architectural barriers: The four faces of Cividale - without architectural barriers
    keyboard_arrow_right
  • The Longobards

    Cividale preserves important monumental, artistic and cultural testimony of a Longobard civilization. Here the centres of power were to be found in the Gastaldaga, where the king’s estates were administered, as well as the Complesso Episcopale, the religious centre. Both of these centres, heart of the Longobard Cividale, conserve rich evidence of those times.

    The Gastaldaga area is located in the valley area where the Santa Maria in Valle Monastery rises to which the [Longobard Temple is annexed (the Oratory of Santa Maria in Valle), a unique historic and artistic monument, and, as it seems, steeped in mystery and still a subject of study today.

    At the time, the building was lavishly decorated with different types of marble, mosaics on a gold background, and a long line of saints on three sides: the renowned stuccowork has charmed visitors for the past three centuries with their extraordinary beauty.

    Extensive evidence of the Longobards is preserved in two museums in the town: the Christian Museum of Cathedral houses brings together highly prestigious sculptures including the celebrated Ratchis altar and the Baptistery of Calixtus. The the Cathedral treasury is worth a visit. It includes a precious collection of sacred archaeological treasures and a picture gallery with important works from Verona and Pordenone.

    If Cividale is a crown, one of its most precious jewels is the National Archaeology Museum situated in Provveditori Veneti Palace. It is difficult to describe its contents in just a few words: it includes Roman, early Christian and early Medieval artifacts, as well as more modern items. The Longobard collections should not be missed, a rare testimony of craftsmanship, of day-to-day life, funeral objects of the ancient population. In the basement level there are the remains of the Patriarchal palace.

    Total time: in total from about 2 hours and 30 minutes to 4 hours (tours to Monastery, to Christian Museum and to National Archaeology Museum with entry cost)

    Distance: circa 1.5 km
    Difficulty: low (the museums are accessible also for people with limited mobility)

    Starting point: Piazza Paolo Diacono, 10 (Sportello Informacittà – Information and tourist welcome)

    - Corso Mazzini
    - Piazza del Duomo: Palazzo Provveditori Veneti – now National Archaeology Museum (entry cost and tour)
    - exiting from Archaeological Museum, cross the Piazza del Duomo infront of the Cathedral and turn into Corso Paolino d’Aquileia
    - just after the corner of the Cathedral turn into via G.B. Candotti (there is a slight gradient) in the direction of the campanile and go to the the entrance of the Christian and Cathedral Treasury Museum (entrance costand tour)
    - exiting the Christian Museum go back onto corso Paolino d’Aquileia and follow the road in the direction of Devil's Bridge
    - turn into the second street on the left, via Monastero Maggiore and follow that until house number 34, where there is the entrance to the Santa Maria in Valle Monastery (entrance cost and tour)
    - exiting the Monastery via the walkway on the Natisone, you reach S. Biagio square;
    - Going back tovia Monastero Maggiore and reaching the Stretta Pozzo of Callissto (there are stairs here) from here it is possible to return to the Cathedral Square

    There is also an alternative itinerary without architectural barriers:The Longobards - without architectural barriers
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  • The Longobard Temple (the oratory of Santa Maria in Valle)

    The Longobard Temple is located within the Monstery of Santa Maria in Valle and originates from the middle of the 8th century.
    It is a religious building, probably a chapel or oratory which made up part of the Benedictine nuns convent founded by the Longobards.
    At the end of the 19th century, the nuns donated the temple to the Community of Cividale at which point they built the hanging walkway on the Natisone, that still leads to the Piazza San Biagio, at the entrance of the building, so that visitors do not need to pass through the cloisters.

    A unique building, its prestige deriving from the extraordinary series of work of arts inside: a sumptuous decorative pattern, including elaborate figurative-ornamental mosaics and stucco works, as well as a series of fresco works made in solemn and very refined style, make this temple one of the most delightful and glorious heritage from the 8th century.

    The Oratory of Santa Maria in Valle is the most celebrated and best preserved monument of the late Longobard period.

    Erected, maybe over preexisting buildings, in the Longobard Gastalda, directly behind the apse of the church of San Giovanni, it was established during the third quarter of the the 8th century as a palatine chapel of the royal Cividale court and then became a nuns oratory.

    Its architecture is highly refined and characteristic: the rectangular hall, the pronounced elevation and barrel vault ceiling, rhythmic sequence of arched niches; to the East opening up to a lower presbytery, finishing straight, divided by three vaults that rest on roman marble architraves, supported by columns and pilasters. A marble surround, recovered from an earlier byzantine period, divides the the hall from the presbytery. On the walls of the oratory are preserved the remains of decorative furnishings of great value.


    The stuccoes that adorn the high parts of the walls of the hall and the arches of the niches are unique in the Western world. From these there is preserved, on the inside wall, a life-size relief of the Saints and Martyrs and an arch with a grapevine shoot positioned to crown the entrance.

    The frescoes, painted on he walls and the hall lunette, of the saints, of the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus among the Archangels are excellent quality and elegance.

    Originally marble sheets covered the lower parts of the walls over which were painted, on the Eastern side of the building, between the level of the stucco, an dedicatory inscription in verse which testifies to the high quality of the commission. The presbytery was also adorned with refined mosaics, with gold tessera, in the higher part of the back wall and maybe in all the vaults. The marble floor, with hexagonal and triangular geometrically pattered tiles, complete the rich ornamental furnishings of the jewel of late Longobard art.
    The architecture and the decorations of the Cividale temple lead to the highest examples of artistic culture in the Mediterranean world, with explicit links to the experience of the late-christian and byzantine traditions.
    They are works of art endowed with a highly refined language that gave expression to the will of the highest levels of the Longobard reign to create a new Ars Aulica or courtiers art.
    In 1893 the Oratory was donated to the Cividale council which opened it to the public.


    Further information
    Tel: + 39 0432 700867
    E-mail: info@tempiettolongobardo.it
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