Suspended above the Natisone inside the monastery of Santa Maria in Valle, the Tempietto is the absolute masterpiece of Lombard art: an eighth-century hall where six stucco saints, tall and hieratic, process above a flowered arch with a grace unmatched in the Europe of their time. UNESCO-listed since 2011.
The route passes through the monastery with glimpses of the emerald river; half-light protects stuccoes and frescoes.
Our tip: pair it with the cathedral's Christian Museum (the Altar of Ratchis) to grasp the Lombard age in an hour; then gubana pastry and a glass of friulano in Cividale's osterias. The saints ask for silence: giving it is part of the visit.
