My first taste of this site, which is spread across Italy, was in the delightful town of Cividale del Friuli tucked up in the North East near the Slovene boarder. The town was a rather wonderful clump of cobbled streets, erratic squares and precipitous bridges cut through by the powder blue waters of the river Natisone.

This was the first capital of the Longobards in Italy so seemed like a great place to start with this site. The actual inscribed bits of the town are limited to the cathedral and the area surrounding it. I must admit to not finding the cathedral particularly remarkable, however the real highlight was behind in the Lombard Temple. The temple is in a pleasant ecclesiastical complex, and is pretty tiny, however the delicate, almost brittle looking woodwork and frescos were exceptionally rewarding. The wonderful view from the jasmine scented terrace at the exit was great.

After this I had a trip around the museum which had a fine selection of Roman (the town was founded by Julius Caesar), and Longobard exhibits, including the contents of graves from the nearby necropolis.

I doubt I could design a more pleasant place to while away a sunny Sunday morning, a slow cappuccino overlooking the Duomo was the perfect way to slow down after a wonderful night out in nearby Udine, which is a lovely place to bar hop on a Saturday night.

Hopefully in the future I will visit more of this serial inscription; if they are even half as pleasant as my first visit they will be well worth the effort.

[Site 6: Experience 7]