Udine: The Square That Has Barely Changed in 600 Years

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Most visitors to north-east Italy follow the well-worn route between Venice, Verona, and the lakes. Udine rarely makes the list. That is a shame, because this compact city in Friuli-Venezia Giulia has one of the finest mediaeval squares in the country — and almost nobody is fighting you for a seat at the outdoor cafés.

Udine sits on the flat plain of Friuli, with the Alps rising to the north and the Adriatic about 60 kilometres to the south. It has roughly 100,000 residents, a university, and a calm, unhurried pace that marks it out from Italy’s more famous destinations. Come here for history, food, and a glimpse of a corner of Italy that still feels genuinely local.

Piazza San Giacomo — The Heart of the City

Udine’s main square — officially called Piazza della Libertà but almost universally known as Piazza San Giacomo — is the place to start. It is one of the best-preserved Renaissance squares in Italy, and it has looked more or less the same since the fifteenth century.

The square is bookended by the Loggia del Lionello on one side and the Porticato di San Giovanni on the other. Between them stands a clock tower, a pair of Venetian columns, and a scattering of outdoor tables that fill up from mid-morning. The proportions feel right — the square is large enough to feel grand, but not so vast that it becomes an empty ceremonial space.

Two tall columns stand near the centre of the square. One is topped by the Lion of St Mark, symbol of the Venetian Republic. The other carries a figure of Justice. Venice ruled Udine for nearly four centuries, from 1420 to 1797, and these columns are a direct reminder of that long period of Venetian dominance. They were erected in the sixteenth century and have stood in place ever since.

The Loggia del Lionello

The most striking building on the square is the Loggia del Lionello, a Gothic-Renaissance arcade that takes up most of the southern side. It was built between 1448 and 1457, designed by Bartolomeo delle Cipolla — though the project takes its name from the merchant Lionello, who funded the original competition to design it.

The loggia is made from alternating bands of white and pink stone from the local Aurisina quarries. The arches are pointed in the Gothic style, while the decorative details are clearly Renaissance in influence. The combination sounds like it should not work, but it does — the building is elegant and distinctive without being showy.

The ground floor arcade is open to the street, as it has been for five and a half centuries. At various points in its history it served as a town hall, a market hall, and a courthouse. Today the building houses municipal offices, which means visitors can admire the exterior freely but access to the interior is limited.

The Clock Tower and the Bronze Moors

Opposite the Loggia del Lionello, across the square, stands the Torre dell’Orologio — the clock tower. It was built in the early sixteenth century, modelled closely on the clock tower in Venice’s Piazza San Marco. Udine was a subject city of Venice at the time, and this was a deliberate statement of civic prestige and loyalty to the Republic.

At the top of the tower, two bronze figures — known locally as the Moors — strike a large bell on the hour. The mechanism has been in place since the 1500s. The figures are not particularly large, but they catch the eye once you know to look for them. On the hour, a small crowd tends to gather below, looking up.

The clock face itself shows the hours, the phases of the moon, and the position of the sun in the zodiac — standard features for astronomical clocks of this period. The workings have been restored and updated over the centuries, but the external appearance has changed very little.

Beyond the Square — What Else to See

The rest of Udine’s historic centre rewards a morning of walking. The Castle of Udine sits on a low artificial hill above the town — it was built on an earthen mound, thought to have been raised as a defensive platform as far back as the early mediaeval period. The castle today houses the Civic Museums, which contain works by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, the Venetian painter who spent several formative years in Udine in the early eighteenth century.

Tiepolo’s frescoes in the Archbishop’s Palace — a short walk from the cathedral — are among the finest examples of his early work. They date from the 1720s and show a young artist already in full command of his dramatic, light-filled style. The palace is open to visitors at set hours and admission is modest.

Via Mercatovecchio, the old market street that leads north from the main square, is worth strolling at any time of day. It has been a commercial street since the Middle Ages. The buildings on either side retain their old porticos, which were built to allow trading in all weathers. Today the ground floors hold a mix of independent shops, bars, and the occasional bank.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata, founded in the fourteenth century, stands just off the main square. The interior is large and slightly austere, but it contains several significant paintings and some well-preserved frescoes. It is free to enter and rarely crowded.

Food and Drink in Friuli

Friulian food is distinct from the pasta-and-tomato cooking most people associate with Italy. The region sits at a crossroads of Italian, Slavic, and Central European culinary traditions, and the results are interesting.

Frico is the most distinctively Friulian dish — a crisp, flat cake made from aged Montasio cheese, sometimes combined with potato and onion. It is rich and intensely savoury, and it appears on almost every menu in the region. Order it as a starter rather than a side.

San Daniele, about 30 kilometres west of Udine, produces one of Italy’s most prized cured hams. San Daniele prosciutto is sweeter and more delicate than its Parma counterpart, with a slightly firmer texture. You will find it on boards, in sandwiches, and served simply with breadsticks at most bars in the city.

Friuli is also a serious wine region, though it rarely gets the attention it deserves. Tocai Friulano — now sold under the name Friulano following a legal dispute with Hungary — is the local white grape, producing dry, nutty wines that pair well with the local food. The wines of Collio, just to the east of Udine, are well worth seeking out.

Getting to Udine

Udine is straightforward to reach from Venice. Direct trains run regularly from Venice Santa Lucia station and take around 80 to 100 minutes depending on the service. The fare is reasonable, and the scenery along the route — crossing the flat Venetian plain before the Friulian foothills begin to emerge — is pleasant.

From Trieste to the south-east, the train journey takes around an hour. Trieste and Udine make a natural pairing for a short trip, both sitting in a corner of Italy that few tourists reach.

Udine has its own station, a 15-minute walk from Piazza San Giacomo, or a short taxi or bus ride. There is no underground system, but the city is compact enough that almost everything of interest is reachable on foot from the centre.

When to Visit

Udine is at its best in spring and early autumn. May and June bring mild temperatures and long evenings, which means the square and surrounding streets stay lively well into the night. July and August can be hot and humid on the plain, though the Alps are never far away if you want to escape the heat.

The city does not have a pronounced tourist season in the way that Venice or Florence does. You are unlikely to find overcrowded streets or inflated prices at any time of year. That, as much as anything, is part of the appeal.

Winter in Udine is cold and can be foggy — the Friulian plain traps mist in the colder months. But the Christmas market on Piazza San Giacomo is genuinely atmospheric, and the quietness of the streets in January and February has its own character.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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