Sunday 24th September 2023 – Camping Aquileia, Aquileia, Italy

 

The port area of Aquileia is a very short distance from the campsite and is the natural route into the centre of the Roman city. We walked along by the remains of the port, a raised bank provided a good view down onto the docks and also separated the remains from a modern river. This was a major Roman port, receiving goods from all of the empire via a canalised river leading to the sea. The scale of the port was impressive – the river was 48 metres wide and 8 metres deep and a section opened up to over 60 metres wide to allow ships to turn. There are significant remains of the warehouses and docks, complete with stone loops used to tie up the ships.
We moved on to the Domus di Tito Macro. Set back from river, this was obviously a very high status, large villa with lovely mosaics. Like many houses in Aquileia, most of the mosaics are monochrome (black & white) with the polychrome mosaics reserved for the rooms used to impress visitors. The remains are preserved under a roof and while the raised walkways allow a good overview of the villa, it is also possible to walk through the corridors and see the rooms and mosaics close up. One of the rooms fronting onto the major Roman road was a bakery with part of the oven still in place and an opening allowing sales of the products. The villa grounds have remains of more mosaics, presumably from the surrounding houses.
We then moved on to the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta. We knew that this was an important site but we were staggered by the sight when we entered. Huge polychrome Roman mosaics cover most of the floor of the large church and the quality is superb. The mosaics mostly cover Christian themes such as the scene of fish and fishermen. Using the FVG card, we were able to download an audio guide that covered most of the sites in the city and this was particularly useful for the basilica as it explained the mosaics very well.
We decided to try the restaurant next to (and probably under the same ownership as) the campsite. La Capannina was very posh inside and the service was excellent. They concentrated on fish dishes – Jane had a whole sole and I fancied the brill but that wasn’t available so I went for the mixed grilled fish. Both were excellent and the fish was beautifully cooked. Together with potatoes, a mixed salad, half a litre of Friuli white wine and some sparkling water, the total bill was €65.90 (£60 ish), which was very reasonable considering the quality of the food.

Photos: Part of the dock of Aquileia port - note the perforated stone (in the middle of the picture) used to tie up the ships; The house of Tito Macro; And one of its polychrome mosaics; The curtain mosaic in the apse of the Episcopal Palace (next to the basilica); The Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta; One section of the huge mosaic in the basilica; Detail of the basilica mosaic – the fishers of men.