Plains, lagoons, coasts and mountains comprise Italy's northeastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, which saw its native sons wage trench warfare against the Central Powers for three years near Gorizia. One hundred thousand Italian soldiers fell on these fields. The war memorial at Fogliano Redipuglia is the country's largest, and pays homage to the sacrifices made for freedom.

While under Austrian influence from the 17th century until the Napoleonic Wars, capital city Trieste reached a high level of status as a trade city and port. Austrian Archduke Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium, built their fanciful, fairy-tale Castello Miramare nearby, and Gorizia's Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio's plump onion domes are of obvious Byzantine influence. The Piazza della Liberta in Udine's buildings melt together Venetian and Moorish ingredients, and ancient Aquileia's basilica has floors adorned with 1,600-year-old Roman mosaics. Lively Lignano's resorts endlessly entertain, and popular Grado is appropriately nicknamed the "sunny island". An absolutely compulsory treat for travellers is the region's world-famous dark-pink and sweet prosciutto, expertly cured in San Daniele del Friuli.