Cervignano del Friuli ( fur, Çarvignan or locally , lat, Cervenianum) is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

'' in the

province of Udine The province of Udine ( it, provincia di Udine, fur, provincie di Udin, sl, videmska pokrajina, Resian: , german: Provinz Weiden) was a province in the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia of Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia. Its capita ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is the most important town of Bassa Friulana. It lies at about from the Laguna di Grado and at about from the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

; from the point of view of viability, its position is peculiar since it lies at the junction of the SS14, linking

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

, and the SS352, linking

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with ...

to Grado. Nevertheless, it is in Cervignano that the railroad from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, passing through

Tarvisio Tarvisio ( German and fur, Tarvis, sl, Trbiž) is a comune in the northeastern part of the autonomous Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy. Geography The town is in the Canal Valley (''Val Canale'') between the Carnic Alps and Karawanks ra ...

and Udine, ends, and is linked to the one from Venice to Trieste.

History

Cervignano was born with the foundation of

Aquileia Aquileia / / / / ;Bilingual name of ''Aquileja – Oglej'' in: vec, Aquiłeja / ; Slovenian: ''Oglej''), group=pron is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river ...

in 181 B.C. by the Romans Lucio Manlio Acidino, Publio Scipione Nasica and Caio Flaminio, sent from Rome to defeat the barbarians menacing the eastern borders of Italy. As usual, the territory near Aquileia was populated, in order to establish a settlement in the area. Some documents of 912 read about Cerveniana or Cirvignanum: the name comes from the name of an ancient Roman family, ''Cervenius'' or ''Cervonius'', with the suffix ''-anus'' to mean the ownership of the land where Cervignano was born. The name, however, was wrongly linked to the Latin word ''cervus'' (or to the Italian ''cervo''), meaning "deer", and evoking a large wood populated by deers; for that reason, a deer can be seen in the left section of the borough shield. The right section of the shield is an anchor, a reference to the ancient harbour on the

Ausa river The Ausa is a minor river some long that traverses part of northern San Marino and Emilia–Romagna in Italy. The source of the river is Monte Titano in central San Marino. The river flows northeast past Serravalle and crosses the border in ...

, relevant for the economic life of the town. During the 11th century an abbey for the

Order of Saint Benedict , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

was built. It was dedicated to Saint Michael Archangel and it was controlled by the monastery of Aquileia and by the Count of

Gorizia Gorizia (; sl, Gorica , colloquially 'old Gorizia' to distinguish it from Nova Gorica; fur, label=Standard Friulian, Gurize, fur, label= Southeastern Friulian, Guriza; vec, label= Bisiacco, Gorisia; german: Görz ; obsolete English ''Goritz ...

. In 1420 Cervignano was conquered by Venice and in 1521 returned to the County of Gorizia with the Worms Treaty. In 1615 was conquered by Venice during the War of Gradisca but it was for a very short period. The town became part of Italy after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. In 1923 the municipality became part of the Province of Udine, along with other municipalities in the same area, and today still belongs to it.

Transportation

* Cervignano-Aquileia-Grado railway station Cities and towns in Friuli-Venezia Giulia {{FriuliVeneziaGiulia-geo-stub