FRIULI, a district at the head of the Adriatic Sea, partly in cluded in Venetia proper (province of Udine) and partly in Venetia Julia (province of Gorizia). In the north and east Friuli includes portions of the Julian and Carnic Alps, while the south is the alluvial plain of the Isonzo, Tagliamento, and lesser streams which come down in enormous floods after rain or thaw. The inhabitants, known as Furlanians or Friulani, speak a dialect with Celtic elements, one of the Latin dialects (others being those of the Dolomite valleys and of the Engadine). The area of the country is about 3,30o sq.m. Silkworms are very largely bred.
Friuli derives its name from the Roman town of Forum Iulii, or Foroiulium, the modern Cividale (q.v.). In the 2nd century B.C. the district was subjugated and became part of Gallia Trans padana. During the Roman period, besides Forum Iulii, its prin cipal towns were Concordia and Aquileia. The Lombards (6th century) made it one of their thirty-six duchies, the capital being Forum Iulii or, as they called it, Civitas Austriae. The discovery of the grave of Gisulf (d. 61i) at Cividale is an interesting proof of the veracity of Paulus Diaconus' Historia Langobardorum. In the 1 i th century the ducal rights over the greater part of Friuli were bestowed by the emperor Henry IV. on the patriarch of Aquileia; but towards the close of the 14th century the nobles called in the assistance of Venice, which, after defeating the arch bishop, secured possession of the country for itself in 142o. The eastern part of Friuli was held by the counts of Gorizia till 1500, when on the failure of their line it was appropriated by Maximilian I., and became the possession of the house of Austria. By the peace of Campo Formio in 1797 the Venetian district also came to Aus tria, and on the formation of the Napoleonic kingdom of Italy in 18o5 the department of Passariano was made to include the whole of Venetian and part of Austrian Friuli, and in 1809 the rest was added to the Illyrian provinces. The title of duke of Friuli was borne by Marshal Duroc. In 1815 the whole country was recov ered by the emperor of Austria, who himself assumed the ducal title and coat of arms. In 1866 the Venetian portion was again ceded to Italy by the peace of Prague, and the rest recovered in 1918.
See Manzano, Annali del Friuli (Udine, 1858-79) ; and Compendio di storia friulana (Udine, 1876) ; Antonini, 11 Friuli orientale (Milan, i865) ; von Zahn, Friaulische Studien (Vienna, 1878) ; Pirona, Vocabolario friulino (Venice, 1869) ; and L. Fracassetti, La Statistica etnografica del Friuli (Udine, 1903). Memorie Storiche Forojulies (in progress) ; P. S. Leicht, Breve Storia del Friuli (Udine, 1923) .
(T. A.)