Aquileia is worth a stop: 10 minutes from Terzo d'Aquileia, 51km from Škocjan Caves.
Aquileia is in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, with about 2,900 people. You drive on the right here. The nearest town is Terzo d'Aquileia, about 4 km away.
Aquileia is a comune (municipality) in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy. It is situated at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 kilometres (6 mi) from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since the Roman era.
InRead more classical antiquity, Aquileia was a major Roman city with an estimated population close to 100,000 in the 2nd century AD. Founded as a Roman military colony in 181 BC, Aquileia became the capital of the Augustan X region and a metropolitan center for early Christianity. During late antiquity, it was the first city in the Italian Peninsula to be sacked by Attila the Hun.
Today, Aquileia is one of the most significant archaeological sites in northern Italy. Its ruins, including mosaics and an early Christian basilica, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Aquileia also holds historical importance as one of the former capitals of Friuli, with its coat of arms being the symbol of the region.
White Habsburg castle built 1856-1860 for Archduke Maximilian on a promontory over the Gulf of Trieste, kept with original interiors and a 22-hectare park. The approach along the Strada Costiera is one of Italy's finest short coastal drives.
28 km · about 30 min drive
landmark
Piran
A perfectly preserved Venetian coastal town perched on a narrow peninsula, Slovenia's most beautiful seaside gem on the Adriatic.
31 km · about 35 min drive
bridge
Solkan Bridge
The world's longest stone railway arch, an 85 m span of hewn limestone blocks: vaults the emerald Soča river just north of Nova Gorica, best admired from the riverside road below.
32 km · about 35 min drive
landmark
Lipica Stud Farm
The 16th-century birthplace of the elegant white Lipizzaner horses on the windswept Karst plateau.
41 km · about 50 min drive
natural wonder
Škocjan Caves
A UNESCO-listed cave system featuring one of the largest underground river canyons in the world at 146 meters deep.
51 km · about 60 min drive
landmark
Grožnjan
A once-abandoned Istrian hill town repopulated by artists in the 1960s: now some 20 galleries and studios fill its Venetian stone lanes, with a summer jazz festival and views over vineyards to the sea.
51 km · about 60 min drive
restaurant
Hiša Franko
Ana Roš's three-Michelin-star farmhouse restaurant in Staro Selo outside Kobarid, cooking hyper-local Soča Valley ingredients: mountain cheese, river trout, foraged herbs. A pilgrimage-level food detour booked months ahead.
55 km · about 65 min drive
natural wonder
Tolmin Gorge
The lowest and most southerly entry point to Triglav National Park, featuring a dramatic thermal spring emerging from a cave in the gorge wall.
56 km · about 65 min drive
Driving roads near Aquileia
32 kmSolkan BridgeThe world's longest stone railway arch, an 85 m span of hewn limestone blocks: vaults the emerald Soča river just north of Nova Gorica, best admired from the riverside road below.
56 kmSoča ValleyValley of the turquoise Soca river below the Julian Alps, followed by a scenic road from Bovec through Kobarid to Tolmin.
74 kmPredil PassA 1,156 m pass on the Slovenian-Italian border above Bovec, guarded by the ruined Predil fortress; its sweeping curves pair perfectly with the nearby Mangart and Vršič roads on a Julian Alps loop.
77 kmMangart Saddle RoadSlovenia's highest-reaching road at 2055m, a narrow single-track shelf road with no guardrails climbing to a dramatic saddle beneath the Mangart peak.
78 kmMangart SaddleThe end of Slovenia's highest road at 2,072 m, a narrow single-track climb with tunnels cut through rock spurs and a huge Julian Alps view.
80 kmVršič PassSlovenia's highest pass at 1611m with 50 numbered cobblestone hairpins, built by Russian POWs in WWI and now a popular Julian Alps motorcycle route.