I finally returned to Italy since last visiting it more than a decade ago. Probably nothing against Italy more like I wanted to visited a lot of other places as well that I thought to just come see places which I haven’t been to yet. While I have actually been to Venice and I thought that it was incredibly beautiful, I will only be flying into Venice and head straight out to visit other places in the region. In this case, my first stop will be the city of Aquileia.

If you have been anywhere near this blog, you would have already known that I tend to use the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites as a guide on where to go. I has become an obsession on mine but it works for me. There are several UNESCO World Heritage sites in this region and to be able to quickly access them, I rented a car for a few days to be able to see the more difficult to access ones. Aquileia is my starting point in this trip and it is only an hour’s drive from Venice. I don’t know how long the bus would have took but at least I have the flexibility to leave whenever I want.

Aquileia is a small city where the main street is basically where everything is. I found a parking spot in the city center and started to make my way around. One of the more significant landmarks in the city is, of course, the church, more accurately, the basilica. The Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta is the main basilica in the city and it is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage site listing. I parked near the basilica and made my way to the church. You can see how that church is oozing with age. For something which is almost a thousand years old, the church is in incredible shape. There is a ticket to purchase to get in the basilica, you can get this at the shop on the left of the plaza in front of the basilica.

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