Udine


Udine is a city and comune in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Regional decentralization entity of Udine. As of 2025, it has a population of 98,320 in the commune, and 176,000 with the urban area.

Names and etymology

Udine was first attested in medieval Latin records as Udene in 983 and as Utinum around the year 1000. The origin of the name Udine is unclear. It has been tentatively suggested that the name may be of pre-Roman origin, connected with the Indo-European root *odh- 'udder' used in a figurative sense to mean 'hill'. The Slovene name Videm is a hypercorrection of the local Slovene name Vidan, based on settlements named Videm in Slovenia. The Slovene linguist Pavle Merkù characterized the Slovene form Videm as an "idiotic 19th-century hypercorrection."

History

Udine is the historical capital of Friuli. The area has been inhabited since the Neolithic age.
Based on an old Hungarian legend, Attila, the leader of the Huns, built a hill there, when besieging Aquileia, because he needed a billet for his winter quarters: he instructed his soldiers to bring soil in their helmets and shields, because the landscape was too flat, without any hill. He established the town there, and built a square tower.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the area increased in importance after the decline of Aquileia, then further after the decline of Cividale. In AD 983 Udine was mentioned for the first time, with the donation of the Utinum castle by emperor Otto II to the Patriarchs of Aquileia, then the main feudal lords of the region. From 1222 it became one of the residences of the Patriarchs, thanks to the patriarch Bertoldo of Andechs, who moved from Cividale to Udine following an earthquake that damaged his residence. In 1223, with the foundation of the market, the city became finally the most important in the area for economy and trade, and also became the Patriarch's seat.
In 1420, it was conquered by the Republic of Venice. In 1511, it was the seat of a short civil war, which was followed by an earthquake and a plague. Udine remained under Venetian control until 1797, being the second largest city in the state.
After the fall of Venice, it was part of the Habsburg Venetian Province. After the short French domination which ensued, being part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, it was part of the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, and was included in the newly formed Kingdom of Italy in 1866.
In 1880 the city council ordered that the remaining sections of the medieval walls should be demolished to provide space for urban expansion.
During World War I, from May 1915 to October 1917, Udine became the seat of the Italian High Command and was nicknamed "Capitale della Guerra". After the battle of Caporetto, it was occupied by the Germans in late 1917 and by the Austro-Hungarians in 1918 until after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in 1918. After the war it was made capital of a short-lived province which included the current provinces of Gorizia, Pordenone and Udine. After September 8, 1943, when Italy surrendered to the Allies in World War II, the city was under direct German administration, which ceased in April 1945.

Geography

Territory

The city is located in the center of the historical region of Friuli. It is just over 20 km from Slovenia as the crow flies, and approximately 54 km from Austria. This places it in a strategic position, at the intersection of the European east-west and north-south routes, on the route leading to Austria and Eastern Europe.
It lies in the high plain, a few kilometers from the hilly area, and is bordered by the Cormor stream to the west and the Torre stream to the east. At the center of the city, it sits on an isolated hill, atop which sits the castle: according to legend, the hill was built by Attila the Hun to overlook the fire he himself set on the city of Aquileia. In reality it was thought that it was formed by conglomeratic rocks older than 100,000 years, while recent archaeological excavations have demonstrated that it is an artificial relief, devoid of rocks.

Climate

Udine has a humid subtropical climate. Precipitation is abundant all year round with spring and autumn being the wettest seasons. The highest temperature recorded was on July 21, 2006 while the lowest temperature recorded was on December 19, 2009.

Demographics

In 2007, there were 97,880 people residing in Udine itself, located in the province of Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, of whom 46.9% were male and 53.1% were female. Minors totalled 14.36% of the population; in comparison, to pensioners accounted for 24.27%. This contrasts with the Italian average of 18.06% and 19.94%. The average age of Udine residents is 47 compared to the Italian average of 42. Between 2002 and 2007, the population of Udine grew by 1.48%, whereas Italy as a whole grew by 3.56%. The current birth rate of Udine is 9.13 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.
The nearby area close to the border has a Slovene population estimated at 2,000. A 1475 document mentions Slovene as the language of the "lower class" in the town, and the Udine Manuscript of 1458 contains Slovene vocabulary. Alasia da Sommaripa's Italian–Slovenian dictionary was printed in Udine in 1607.
Udine is one of the municipalities in Friuli where Friulian is taught.
, 85.30% of the population was of Italian descent. Of the four provincial capitals of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, as of 1 January 2024, Udine has the second highest percentage of foreign residents: 14,536 presences or 14.8% of the total population, higher than the regional average of 9.2%.
  1. Romania,
  2. Albania,
  3. Ukraine,
  4. Nigeria,
  5. Ghana,
  6. China,
  7. Pakistan,
  8. Serbia,
  9. Kosovo,
  10. Morocco,

    Government

Main sights

The old residence of the patriarchs of Aquileia, the palazzo Patriarcale, was erected in 1517 in place of the older one destroyed by an earthquake in 1511. In 1708 the patriarch Dionisio Dolfin called upon the architect Domenico Rossi, who built the wing with the library and the oval staircase, raised the central body by creating the portal, completed the north wing and, in 1725, the main staircase. Under the Austrians it was used as a prison.
A recension of the Visigothic code of laws, called the Breviary of Alaric, was formerly preserved in the cathedral archives, in a manuscript known as the Codex Utinensis, which was printed before it was lost.
In the 1550s, Andrea Palladio erected some buildings in Udine. The Oratorio della Purità has 18th-century frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo and his son Giandomenico.
The church dedicated to St. Mary of the Castle is probably the oldest in Udine, judging from extant fragments dating back to the Lombard era. It lost its parish status in 1263, when it was annexed to the larger parish of Saint'Odorico. It has been renovated many times over the centuries: the façade, for example, was entirely rebuilt after the 1511 Idrija earthquake. Its three naves preserve the suggestive atmosphere of silence and contemplation, which is often found in old churches. The Venetian Governor, Tommaso Lippomano, commissioned the Venetian Gothic portico with steps and ramps leading down the hill in 1487.
In the principal square stands the town hall built in 1448–1457 in the Venetian-Gothic style opposite a clock tower resembling that of the Piazza San Marco at Venice. It was begun in 1448 on a project by Nicolò Lionello, a local goldsmith, and was rebuilt following a fire in 1876. The new design was projected by the architect Andrea Scala.
Opposite the Loggia del Lionello is the Loggia di San Giovanni, a Renaissance structure designed by Bernardino da Morcote. Other noteworthy monuments in the square are the Fountain by Giovanni Carrara, an architect from Bergamo ; the Columns bearing the Venetian Lion and the Statue of Justice, the statues of Hercules and Cacus and the Statue of Peace which was donated to Udine by Emperor Francis I to commemorate the peace Treaty of Campoformido.
The Cathedral of Udine is an imposing edifice whose construction started in 1236, on a Latin cross-shaped plan with three naves and chapels along the sides. The church was consecrated in 1335 as Santa Maria Maggiore. At the beginning of the 18th century, a radical transformation project involving both the exterior and the interior was undertaken at the request and expense of the Manin family. The Baroque interior has monumental dimensions and contains many works of art by Tiepolo, Amalteo, and Ludovico Dorigny. On the ground floor of the bell tower is a chapel which is completely adorned with frescoes by Vitale da Bologna.
The centre of Udine is dominated by the castle, built by the Venetians from 1517 over a Lombard fortification ruined by an earthquake in 1511. The current Renaissance appearance dates from the intervention of Giovanni da Udine, who finished the works starting from 1547. The castle houses one of the most ancient Parliament Halls of Europe.

Other points of interest

Udine has a university, the University of Udine.

Culture

The archbishop's palace and the Museo Civico have quite important paintings. The city has a theater, the Teatro Giovanni da Udine.
Important festivals include the wine-and-food September festival, Friuli D.O.C., the national literary prize for non-fiction Premio Friuli Storia and the biggest European festival of popular East Asian cinema, the Far East Film Festival, in April.
Asteroid 33100 Udine was named in honour of the city.
Along with Italian, Friulian is often spoken in Udine, as well as a variant of Venetian that is however in decline.