Iulia Concordia
Julia Concordia was founded as a Roman colony around the middle of the 1st century a. C. on the site of an earlier protohistoric settlement. Through its name the town honoured the “gens Julia”, the family of Caesar, celebrating an episode of peace and alliance, a pact. The current appellation of “Sagittaria” was however attributed to the little town by royal decree in 1869, during the years immediately following the annexation to the Italian Kingdom with the explicit intention of recalling the presence in the Roman town of an arrow (sagittae) factory instituted at the beginning of the 4th century by the Emperor Diocleziano. The question arises at this point, spontaneously: how come an arrow factory right in this area? Well, this was where important Roman roads crossed: the Annia and the Postumia, both leading to Aquileia, and from there all connections with the transalpine territories, the Noric (the present Austria), commenced. Today there are some excavation areas equipped for visitors in Concordia . The most well-known is the early Christian area, located in the “foundations” of the present day Costantini square. This area is undoubtedly the best preserved and the most exciting, as it enables one to walk on ancient mosaics and to recognize the structures of the first Christian churches.