Friuli: from the Adriatic lagoons to the Julian Alps

Route description

After Trieste’s grand squares and cafés, follow the coast road to Miramare Castle and its park. Beyond Duino the road leaves the Karst cliffs for the flat lagoon country, and a causeway leads out to Grado, an island town with a compact old centre and long beaches.

Aquileia, just inland, was one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire; the basilica’s mosaic floor alone repays the stop. Palmanova, a few kilometres north, was built by Venice in 1593 as a perfect nine-pointed star, and you can walk or cycle along its ramparts.

Cividale del Friuli sits on the gorge of the Natisone, with the Lombard Temple, a medieval bridge and a good little archaeological museum. Continue north past Udine and up the Tagliamento valley to Venzone, a walled town destroyed by the 1976 earthquake and rebuilt stone by stone.

The A23 motorway (E55) and the older SS13 run on through the Canal del Ferro to Tarvisio, close to Austria and Slovenia. The Fusine lakes lie just east of the town, with an easy trail between them; the area is at its best in late spring and in autumn.