Our wine exploration started with a stop in the small and lovely town of Cormans, one of the centers of wine production of the region, and also a dining destination (think of San Daniele prosciutto). Although,we were eager to get into Friuli wine country, we couldn't resist stopping for a coffee in a cute coffee bar (pasticcieria).
As in so many coffee bars, a sample of the morning's special pastry was included as a treat. This is definitely a great way to start the day!
Sadly, we could not linger as we also wanted to pick up some touring maps of the wine region, and make our way into the vineyards.
And so we headed off to the hills of Friuli - a region famous for its white wines.
Photos, alas, can't do justice to the panoramic beauty and tranquility of the lovely rolling hills of the area. The vendemmia (grape harvest) was well underway, though roughly half of the vineyards we went through still had grapes handing in plump bunches from the vines.
We kept thinking that - at least for the white wines for which this region is so well-known - we might be sipping a wine produced in part from the very vines we were looking at. For example, a Friulano from Russiz Superiore - a lovely hilltop estate which we visited.
After so many glorious sights, we were ready for lunch which was to be in the historical village of Cividale in the foothills of the eastern Alps close to the Slovenian border. The town is situated on the river Natisone which forms a steep and picturesque ravine.
Formerly an important regional power under Rome and later Venice, these days it is a quiet, small town that attracts tourists thanks to its medieval center.
Interestingly, according to the historian James Burke (of the old TV series Connections) a 1331 siege of Cividale witnessed one of the first deployments of what we would now call "guns" -- a rather dubious distinction for such a peaceful and beautiful corner of Italy.
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