Cividale del Friuli was founded as Forum Iulii, a market town established by Julius Caesar, and it gave its name to the whole region of Friuli. In 568, when the Lombards crossed the Alps and invaded Italy, Cividale was the first city they took, and it became the seat of their first duchy. The Lombards ruled much of Italy for two centuries, and Cividale preserves some of the finest traces of their culture. The Tempietto Longobardo, a small eighth-century chapel overlooking the river, holds a row of stucco female saints of extraordinary grace, among the most beautiful works of art of the early Middle Ages. It is the centrepiece of the UNESCO listing of the Longobards in Italy, Places of the Power, along with sites from Brescia to Benevento. The National Archaeological Museum displays jewellery, weapons and grave goods from Lombard tombs.
The town is built on the edge of a gorge cut by the Natisone river, and the Ponte del Diavolo, the Devil's Bridge, spans it in two high arches resting on a rock in the middle of the stream. Legend says the devil built it in exchange for the soul of the first to cross; the townspeople sent a cat. The river below is a vivid green, and on hot days locals swim in its pools.
Cividale is surrounded by the vineyards of the Colli Orientali del Friuli, which produce some of Italy's finest white wines, along with Ramandolo and Picolit, sweet wines from nearby hills. The town is also known for gubana, a spiral pastry filled with nuts, raisins and grappa, sold in every bakery.
The riding is excellent. East of Cividale, the Natisone valleys climb into the hills along the Slovenian border, an area with a Slovene-speaking community, small villages and quiet, winding roads through forests. The road over to Kobarid, in Slovenia, follows the Natisone and crosses the border into the Soča valley, where the Battle of Caporetto was fought in 1917; the museum in Kobarid is one of the best First World War museums anywhere. Monte Matajur, rising above the valleys, has a twisting road to near its summit, with views over the plain to the Adriatic.
Cividale has fuel, cafés and restaurants. Try frico, a crisp, rich cake of potato and Montasio cheese, the very definition of Friulian comfort food.