Ancient Aquileia

To start this day we hiked from village to village on the Gemina (gee-me-nah) Trail.  It is an old gravel road that connects several small towns that we enjoyed walking thru along the way and at one point we were only 400 meters (.25 miles) from the Slovenia border. One rest stop was at a small country church named St. Ulderich and probably dates back to 1500’s.  There was a small cemetery behind the church.

The trail ended at Aquileia (ay-quee-lay-uh) which at one time was the 3rd largest city after Rome in 181 BC.  Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a port city and is considered the hub of early Christianity. The town was sacked by Attila the Hun in 452 AD and the survivors of that rampage walked up the coast and into the marshes to escape the Hun.  These people eventually built Venice.

What was left behind was a large and stunning basilica. In the 2nd or 3rd century the floor was laid out in mosaics that tell the biblical stories, a second layer and larger building was built over the first in the 5th century, again with mosaic floors. The third and final building was constructed with a bell tower and separate baptistery in 1000 AD.

A lot of the mosaics were of animals and fish.  The fish and animals represent the people that Christ called to him.  One picture shows Jonah being fed to the sea monster and another shows him being spit out and sailing to shore.  Another picture shows Jesus surround by animals who represent all the people he has called.  A mosaic of a turtle and a rooster is a story of evil (the turtle that lives underground) fighting the rooster (he rises with the sun).  Good wins over bad or Christ wins over the devil.  The crypt was under a raised alter and was used to keep relics.

Surrounding the basilica are Roman ruins of homes, the forum and the seaport for the very large city.

Castello di Spessa is home for two nights.  Not only does is look like a castle but our rooms are like ones for a Queen.  The area around the castle is full of vineyards and a beautiful golf course. A statue of Casanova greeted us since he stayed here at one time and is reported to have said it was very boring as there were no women!