Territory: in the midst of nature and the arts

Mortegliano is a nerve centre from where to visit all Friuli and it consists of a haracteristic
small town of the lower Friulan province. Its centre houses the highest bell tower in all Italy (113.2 metres, built by Pietro Zanini in 1959) and the Cathedral where Giovanni Martini’s famous altar can be found, a masterpiece of Friulan woodworks.

A few kilometres away rises Aquileia, a jewel of Friulan archaeology (it was founded way back in 181 BC). Having been included by UNESCO as a world heritage site, Aquileia still conserves to this very day in a very exemplary manner the remains of the old Roman city: from the forum to the basilica, from the mosaic flooring to the Way of the Cross statues, from the markets to the river port (http://www.aquileia.net/).

Travelling swiftly in time and moving to the west, at Passariano one can see Villa Manin, a 16th century Venetian mansion where in 1797 the Treaty of Campoformido was signed, thereby ratifying Bonaparte’s victory in his First Italian Campaign. Nowadays this mansion is an important contemporary art centre hosting international exhibitions
(http://www.villamanin-eventi.it/).