The Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta in Aquileia stands where Roman urban history and the expansion of early Christianity meet. Its vast fourth-century mosaic pavement is the immediate attraction, but the complex also preserves layers of rebuilding, worship and archaeology extending through the medieval period. Together with the surrounding Roman city, the Patriarchal Basilica was inscribed by UNESCO in 1998.
Aquileia was founded as a Roman colony in 181 BCE and became one of the early empire’s largest and wealthiest cities, linking Mediterranean trade with Central Europe. It was sacked by Attila’s Huns in 452, yet much of the ancient city survives unexcavated beneath fields and the modern settlement. The basilica’s position inside this archaeological reserve makes it possible to connect Christian art with the streets, port installations and houses of the Roman centre.
