The historical capital of Friuli offers one of the best settings for Folkest: the castle of the patriarchs, which houses the hall of the Friulian Parliament, probably the earliest testimony of European democratic life, decorated with one of Tiepolo‘s most famous paintings. Also on the hill stand the Church of Santa Maria (7th century) and the Casa della Contadinanza, a 1931 reconstruction of a 15th-century building where Friulian farmers used to meet.
Piazza San Giacomo, or Piazza delle Erbe, now Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, a market center and hub of city life in recent centuries, has undergone careful restoration of both the pavement and the beautiful fountain by Giovanni da Udine. The entire Tiepolo cycle in Udine is of extreme artistic interest: from the patriarchal palace to the Chapel of Purity.
The beautiful Piazza Libertà, with the 15th-century Loggia del Lionello and the 16th-century Loggia di San Giovanni, with the clock tower by Giovanni da Udine, is considered among the most Venetian in Italy after Piazza San Marco in Venice.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata, residence of the last patriarchs of Aquileia, was begun in 1236 on an earlier sacred building, decorated with altarpieces and frescoes by Giovan Battista Tiepolo.
