Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Udine

UDINE, a town of Italy, in the province of Udine, in a wide plain near the foot of the Carnic Alps, on the Roja, 84 miles by rail north-east from Venice and 49 miles north-west from Trieste. It is enclosed by an imposing wall of considerable antiquity, some 4 or 5 miles in circumference, and fortified with towers. In the centre, on an eminence, stands the old castle, at one time the residence of the patriarchs of Aquileia, and now used as a prison. Grouped around this is the old part of the town, with narrow crooked streets, some of which are lined with arcades. The cathedral, which is a Romanesque building with fine pillars, and an hexagonal tower bearing 14th-century sculptures, contains some interesting examples of native art (by Giovanni Martini da Udine and others). The church of S. Maria della Purità has frescos by Tiepolo. On the principal square stands the town-hall, built in 1457 in the Venetian-Gothic style, and skilfully restored since a fire in 1876; opposite is a clock tower resembling that of the Piazza di San Marco at Venice. The archiepiscopal palace and Museo Civico, as well as the municipal buildings, have some valuable paintings. Several of the palaces of the nobility have striking architectural features, and the town is adorned by many beautiful public walks. The leading industry of Udine is silk-spinning, but it also possesses manufactures of linen, cotton, hats, and paper, tanneries, and sugar refineries, and has a considerable trade. The population in 1881 was 23,254.

Udine is the Vedinum of Pliny; it was then a municipium, but quite an inconsiderable place compared with Forum Julii (Cividale) 11 miles to the east, or Aquileia 22 miles to south-south-east. In the Middle Ages it became a flourishing and populous city; in 1238 the patriarch Berthold made it the capital of Friuli (q.v.), and in 1420 it became Venetian.