Aquileia, founded by the Romans in 181 BC and declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998, was one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire, one of the most bustling communities of early Latin Christianity, one of the biggest ancient ports on the Adriatic Sea, a starting point of the main commercial, cultural and military routes to North-East Europe.

It was the nominale seat of an Episcopate and of a Patriarchate as late as 1751, and at its peak it stretched from Lake Como to Hungary. It was in Aquileia, in 1921, that the body of the Unknown Soldier was chosen. This area also boasts a 2,000-year-old winemaking and gastronomic tradition.