Cividale del Friuli, in the province of Udine, was the first capital of the Kindom of the Longobards in Italy at beginner of Middle Age. The Longobards were a Germanic people originally from the current Scandinavian peninsula. The term “Longobardi” derives from lang and bert, long and beard, and indicated the long beard of these fearsome warriors who invaded Europe in the early Middle Ages. The Lombards knew the Christian faith also thanks to the conversion of the Queen Teodolinda.
The large historic center of Cividale is built entirely of stone. In the monastery of Santa Maria in Valle the Longobard temple can be visited with a wonderful view of the Natisone river, sorrounded by a green nature and a memorable landscape.
Inside the village there is a rustic three-storey medieval house that illustrates the habitation, the lifestyle and the customs of the peasants.
Next to the Cathedral of Cividale, from 1457, the Christian Museum includes an audio-visual screen that illustrates visitors the origins and history of the Longobards, and preserves the major masterpieces of Longobard sculptures, like the Baptistery of Callisto and the Ara of Ratchis.
The Achaeological Museum, elected UNESCO World Heritage Site, is full of evidence of the Longobard age of all kinds: weapons, sculptures, goldsmiths, and extensive floor and wall mosaics of the Roman, Hellenistic and Byzantine age, large numismatic collections and golden objects of liturgical furnishings, among which goblets and crosses of the Carolingian age also.
The old station of Cividale, near the current one, preserve evidence of the First World War.
