My family and I arrived in Aquileia from Grado, which served as our base for the week. The connection between Grado and Aquileia is good, with buses running between the cities every hour, and tickets can be bought at a vending machine or at the counter at the bus station in Grado. Unfortunately they don't have a platform for strollers so we had to go by car. Parking in Aquileia is not a problem, there are several paid parking lots.

Although Aquileia was one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire in ancient times, today it is a small city. Only part of the original area has been excavated so far, and individual Roman sites are scattered throughout the city. The city is easily accessible with a pram, even some of the sites are wheelchair accessible thanks to platforms, as is the patriarchal basilica (with the exception of one crypt). It takes about an hour to walk around all the excavations. At the time of our visit, the colonnade of Roman columns, which is often pictured, was under scaffolding. Although the sites are interesting, especially the remains of the harbor, the main sight is the patriarchal basilica, which I recommend saving for last. The floor mosaics are impressive, and the scenes of marine fauna are interesting, although the downside is that only small parts of the walkway above are visible. The mosaics in Sicily's Villa Romana del Casale, for example, can be viewed in much better detail. Similarly, the two crypts are very interesting. Unfortunately, the tower of the basilica, which can be seen from far away, was closed at the time of our visit.

I definitely recommend a visit to the National Archaeological Museum, where finds from the Roman city are on display. Personally, I don't like very modern museums where there are few exhibits and many interactive elements or, conversely, too many exhibits without context. But this museum is right on the middle ground - the best finds with explanations of the context. The museum beautifully explains the importance of Aquileia at the crossroads of Italy, the Alpine region and the Balkans, and the finds of all sorts of goods from all corners of the Roman Empire, even from Africa, are very interesting, showing the great importance of the city, which might not be apparent from the excavations themselves, which are not extraordinary.

What I found a little lacking in the museum, and in Aquileia in general, was any explanation of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, which had been based here for almost a thousand years and which had influence throughout the wider region. In short, any history after the conquest of Aquileia by the Hun invaders was absent, although the patriarchal basilica from the height of the patriarchate's power in the 11th century is the most visible thing about this UNESCO site.

By the way, I also recommend visiting the town of Grado, which in ancient times served as a seaport for Aquileia and also in the early Middle Ages the Patriarchate moved here. It is not some ordinary seaside resort, but there are also early Christian churches from the 7th century as a reminder of the relocated Grado patriarchate. Equally interesting are the villas and hotels from the turn of the 19th and 20th century, when Grado was one of the first resorts in Austria-Hungary.