Impressions

    The gray rocks, as faces of essays, stretch their shadows toward the woods and the sea.
    A sense of strength and composure around the traveler in crossing the varied land, up to the towers of Miramare, so dear to the romantic inspiration, which contain, within their dazzling walls, poignant memories of love and ambitions, cultivated and lost.
    They still keep, in the intact preservation of furniture, the gildings and the charms of a waned and never forgotten era.
    On polished surfaces, the rays of sunset are reflected, blushing their profiles, and stretching on the changing shores, among headlands, beaches and gorges, caressed by clear water.
    You walk the ancient streets, up to the wonders of the Roman basilicas, and to the remains of an illustrious past, in which is rooted a culture brilliant and varied, among spaces and forms of Roman and medieval memory, and then again Venetian and Hapsburgic, now imposing and severe, now flourished.
    So you can enjoy the reverb of the windy squares, shimmering of white and colors that are diluted in the sky and the sea.
    The sense of peace and intimate poetry tickles the creative thoughts, while the view dissolves among galleons of clouds in running until the beginning of the mountains, reaching the jagged peaks and iridescent.
    These natural fringes of rock stand out in the first light of dawn, like solemn and protective walls, animated by stylized faces and bodies, inviting to meditation and contemplation of the alpine horizons.
    And beyond those boundaries, you can still let your mind run, away, towards the sunrise.
   

Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Aquileia

    Wanted by Bishop Theodore in 313, after the edict of Constantine, the basilica was built originally as a double classroom building, but the plant was changed shortly after a Latin cross and three naves.
    The construction continued to grow until the arrival of the Huns of Attila, which devastated the city and decimated the population, destroying part of the basilica complex.
    The restructuring occurred in the Carolingian era, by Patriarch Maxentius, starting dall'811, to which are due even the so-called Church of the Gentiles and the Baptistery, but still damaged by an earthquake in 988.
    The building was then largely rebuilt in the century XI, in Romanesque style, and enriched with the imposing bell tower 73 meters high, built with marble recovered from the ancient amphitheater, which later became the model of local church towers.
    Restored after the earthquake of 1348, the church presents some additions of Gothic roots, to which Renaissance style elements were added during the Venetian period, and in particular the great wooden ceiling.
    Beginning of the century IV, however, remains the magnificent mosaic floor depicting allegorical scenes of the Holy Scriptures, which combine the new Christian symbolism in a fine naturalistic representation, closer to Hellenistic models.
    The exceptional state of preservation is due to the fact that since medieval times was covered by overlapping wood, being brought to light only in 1909.
    Symbols of Christianity abound in various shapes of fish, while allegories of heaven and eternal life are offered by the birds on the branches and portraits of the seasons, and some more, the Church is represented in the images of the good shepherd surrounded by flocks of each breed and of fishermen who cast their nets.
    On the right aisle in the back, is the Chapel of St. Ambrose, wanted by the Della Torre family, which gave the city four patriarchs, three of them buried in the Basilica, in monumental tomb arks.
    Of great relief is the Crypt of Excavations, which is an archaeological stratification starting from the remains of a domus suburban of Augustan age, and then the Crypt of the Frescoes, of the century XII, and the so-called Holy Sepulcher, built in imitation of that in Jerusalem.