AQUILEIA CIVITAS

Aquileia has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the CITY OR CIVITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the the aeternitas and the future of Europe.

Aquileia is one of the most ancient cities of the history of European integration, signed in great part by Christianity. Who founded Aquileia? The Civitas Aquileia was founded in 180 B.C. by Romans in a strategic point at the crossing of several ancient roman ways: the Postumia way coming from Genoa; the Annia way coming from Adria; the Sucinaria way starting from Aquileia and passing through Emona (tha actual Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia), first step of the Amber Road that leaving Carnuntum could reach the Baltic sea banks; the Julia Way starting from Aquileia towards Noricum province and the modern city of Innsbruck; in the end, the Dalmatica way starting from Aquileia run all along the Adriatic Sea coasts up to Corinth.

In origin Aquileia was a Colonia of the Roman Respublica, inhabited by 3,000 families of Piceni and Samnites Italics tribes who received large pieces of the public land (Ager Romanus) to share with the local Veneti people. Its particular position grew up the commercial relations with the near civitas, to trade their agricultural and viticulture products and manufactured bricks. Within the reform of Augustus (see Roman Empire) who eleved Aquileia capital of the Regio X Venetia et Histria of the Italiae province, there could live together Romans, Jewish and Celts people: in term of religion, the population adopted the Roman pantheon, together with the Celtic sun-god, meanwhile the Jews practiced their ancestral religion and soldiers brought the martial cult of Mithras.

With the reform of Constantine I (see Christian Empire), Aquileia became seat of an imperial metropolitan archibishopric cause of its ancient originary christian community: many councils were held in the city since 381 A.D., when it started playing a decisive part in the Christianity and the entire history of european integration. Aquileia was among the 10 great cities of the world still during the Middle Age when Attila penetrated the Imperium: for that reason, part of the inhanitants escaped to the Venetian Lagoon where they founded the city of Venice. Time after, when Lombards conquered Italy in 568 A.D., Aquileia continued to elige its Patriarch but was disputed among the Lombards Regna, the Republic of Venice and the Exarchate of Ravenna.

In late VIII century A.D. the Lombards Regna was conquered by Charlemagne and transformed in Regnum Italiae, so that the Aquileia Patriarchate became an imperial christian circosciprion under the rule of the Friuli Marquisade, until it existed: from XI century A.D., after the raids of Magyars, Aquileia became a strong and wide feudal archibishopric part of the Reich Empire attribuited of temporal powers, rich enough to erect the romanic Cathedral over the site of the earlier Aquileia basilica near the 5th century A.D. benedictine monastir. Now that archeological area is included in a national museum enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage. Since 1450 A.D., Aquileia had been annexed to the Republic of Venice and followed its history until today.

Nowadays, Aquileia is a little country in north-east of Italy, as part of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, and its patron are Sts. Hermagoras and Fortunatus founders of the ancient christian community.

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