Udine (OO´dEnA), population 100,000, capital of Udine province, Friuli–Venezia Giulia, Italy.  In the 10th century Emperor Otto II gave the city to the patriarchs of Aquileia, who made it their capital in the 13th century.  Udine has been the chief city of Friuli since the 15th century.  It passed to Venice in 1420 and to Austria in 1797 and again in1814 (after the Napoleonic War), and it was annexed by Italy in 1866.  In World War I the city was the headquarters of the Italian army (1915–17) and was occupied by Austria (1917–18).  

In the Piazza della Liberta (Liberty Square) are the Loggia di San Giovanni (16th century), with a clock tower; the Gothic town hall (1457); and a fine fountain (16th century).  Overlooking Udine is a castle (early 16th century), which was the seat of the Venetian governors and now houses a museum of painting and numismatics.  Nearby is Campo Formio, where a treaty between France and Austria was signed (1797).          The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press.

From Tourist brochure:   Udine is placed at the center of the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia on the international route connecting southern and north-eastern Europe.  The name Udine is mentioned for the first time in 983, in a paper with which Emperor Ottone II donated Udine's five castles to the Patriarch of Aquileia.

However, excavations carried out at various times place its origins centuries before that.  The place has probably been inhabited in some form or other since 2,000 years B.C.  

In the history of the development of Udine from village into town, 1223 is an important landmark.  It was then that Patriarch Bertold of Andechs-Merania, who had obtained confirmation of his right of sovereignty from Emperor Frederic II, granted Udine its market, which after a few years moved from the Old to the New Market Square (today piazza Matteotti) as a consequence of rapid urban development.  The city, however, was significantly shaped only after 1420 when, together with the rest of Friuli, it became part of the Venetian Republic.

There were Turkish invasions (from 1472 to 1499), a war between the Republic and Emperor Maximilian (1508-1514) and the Gradisca War (1615-1617) between Venice and the Austrian Empire.  In 1797 Friuli and its capital were occupied by Napoleon's troops and a year later, after the Campoformido Treaty, they passed under Austrian Dominion.  The Austrians were repeatedly defeated by the French and only in 1813 did Friuli and Udine become a stable Austrian dominion.  In 1866 the Province of Udine was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.  

During the First World War (1915-1918) Udine was the seat of the Italian High Command.  In 1963 the city and the province went to make up the Autonomous Province with Special Statute of Friuli Venezia Giulia together with Trieste, Gorizia and Pordenone.