Cividale Territory

Part of the town of Cividale del Friuli (province of Udine, Friuli Venezia Giulia) that contains the monastery of Santa Maria in Valle and Lombard ‘tempietto’

The Lombard ‘temple’ is located inside the monastery of Santa Maria in Valle, in an area close to the old town wall, which continued down to the River Natisone; nearby was the Brossana Gate, which gave access to the town from the east.
The layout and certain features of the historic centre (6th – 7th century) are typical of changes associated with the Lombards’ arrival and settlement in towns. Cividale was the seat of the first Lombard duchy in Italy, which left its mark in the town’s organization and the existence of several monumental nuclei, in particular the Gastaldaga and the episcopal complex, clearly discernable on the model of the territory.
The Gastaldaga was seat of the gastaldius regis, who administered the possessions of the Lombard king. North of the Valle area is the complex that became the episcopal base in the Lombard period, at the time of the patriarch Callistus (8th century), and consists of several interconnected buildings: the church of Santa Maria Assunta, the baptistery of San Giovanni Battista and the Patriarch’s Palace. From the baptistery come two of the most important items of Lombard sculpture: the Tegurio, or Canopy, of Callistus and the Altar of Ratchis – now kept in the Museo Cristiano e Tesoro del Duomo (Museum of Christianity and Cathedral Treasury).
The nearby National Archaeology Museum houses the remains of the Lombard era Patriarch’s Palace; the museum includes an outstanding display of Lombard period grave goods.