Visit Grado
The town of Grado is situated on a peninsula on the Adriatic Sea between Trieste and Venice in north-eastern Italy.
The main monuments of artistic value in Grado are found in the Old Town, in the so-called 'Campo dei Patriarchi'.
These include the Basilica of St. Euphemia, which has a three-part façade with two doors and three large windows of an early Christian type. To the right of the front of the cathedral there is a 15th century bell-tower, while inside it has an early Christian structure (three naves, columns and capitals). In the apse of the church there is a large fresco representing Christ surrounded by symbols of the “Tetramorph” (the “Christian tetramorph” presents the four evangelists and four saints). The building is a typical monument of Byzantine architecture, decorated with mosaics, and it was the cathedral of the Patriarchs of Grado until the mid-fifteenth century. The altar is decorated with a big silver painting, donated by the Venetian patrician Donato Mazzalorsa in the 14th century.
To the east of the Basilica of St. Euphemia is the Lapidary, which collects many finds from Roman times; the inscriptions are presented chronologically, from the first to the fourth century AD.
Another valuable religious artefact in Grado is the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built in the late sixth century by Patriarch Elijah and one of two early Christian basilicas of Grado. Built on the site of a previous Basilica, dating from the first half of the fifth century; the South aisle and the apse, covered with mosaics, date from the first building. The Basilica has a square shape, and the interior is divided into three naves separated by two rows of five marble columns from various sources. The left aisle has a wooden statue of the “Madonna delle Grazie”. It overlooks the “Campo dei Patriarchi”, north from the Basilica of St. Euphemia and the Baptistery.
Also very evocative is the nearby lagoon of Grado, characterized by numerous islets, which preserve the archaic “casoni” ("huts") of straw once used by fishermen. The best known of these islands is the Island Shrine of Our Lady of “Barbana”, an important ancient pilgrimage point.
The varied landscape of Grado is accompanied by a varied culinary tradition and the result is a truly varied and tasty cuisine, with fish from the coastal areas, vegetables and meat of farm animals, and also game and local produce. Enjoy some of these local specialities with the local wines of Friuli, which are known throughout Italy and which accompany local dishes such as the anchovy “all'aguglia”, “lanzardo alla palamita”, and the tuna.
See also history of Grado.