Situation
Udine, capital of the province of the same name, lies at the east end of the north Italian plain in the flood-plain of the River Tagliamento. The town is about 40km/25mi from the Adriatic coast and about 20km/12mi from the frontier of the
former Yugoslavia. It is the see of an archbishop and a university town. Udine is the economic center of the Friulan plain and popular with shoppers.
History
Udine, the Roman Utina, was from 1238 to 1752 the residence of the Patriarchs of Aquileia (south of Udine on the Adriatic coast), to whom the Emperor Otto II had granted the castle in 983. The town came under Venetian control in 1420. Two of the old town gates, Porta Aquileia and Porta Villalta, have been preserved.