Castle Hill was long believed to be made of drift accumulating during centuries. However, a legend about its origin says that when
Attila the Hun (also called the Scourge of God) plundered
Aquileia (one of the biggest cities of the
Roman Empire at that time) in the year 452, he asked his soldiers to build a hill to see Aquileia burning. This was made by filling the helmet of each soldier with soil. Recent scientific studies showed that the hill is artificial, but much older than the legend presupposes. In fact, the origins of the hill are in the
Bronze Age, and it might date to a period between 3000 and 3500 years ago, comparable in age to the slightly higher
Silbury Hill in
Wiltshire, England, dating from c. 2300 BC. However the castle Hill in Udine is bigger by volume, making it the biggest prehistoric
mound in Europe. The first official statement of the existence of a building on the hill dates back to 983: the Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II donated to Rodoaldo,
Patriarch of Aquileia a
castrum or military building. The present building has the form of a palace and it was built on the ruins of a fortress destroyed in the year
1511 Idrija earthquake. The construction had started in 1517 and the works had lasted for 50 years. The external decoration of the palace and the paintings in the Parliament Hall are due to
Giovanni da Udine, one of the pupils of
Raphael. The council of the
Patria del Friuli was one of the first parliaments in the world, and it was suppressed after the French occupation in 1797. Today the castle hosts the History and Art Museum of the City of Udine. Image:Salite_castello_udine.jpg|The slope to the Castle Image:UdineCastelloFrontingresso.jpg|Front entrance of the Castle File:Udine, castello 01.JPG|Rear view of the Castle Image:Udine Castle.jpg|Rear view with the square File:L’Angelo del campanile della Chiesa di Santa Maria di Castello di Udine.JPG|The Angel of the steeple of the Church of Santa Maria di Castello di Udine == References ==