The Province of Udine (in Friulian, Provincie di Udin) is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. It has a population of 531,603. Its capital is the city of Udine, a municipality of 97,880 inhabitants and the cultural and commercial centre of all trade in Friuli. There are 137 communities in the province, ranging from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea.

History and tourism
As the capital of the historical Friuli region, which has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age, Udine became its most important centre soon after the fall of Aquileia and Cividale. It was mentioned for the first time as Utinum in 983, when the Emperor Ottone II donated a castle to the people. In 1238, the castle became the see of the Patriarch of Aquileia. When Patriarch Bertoldo di Andechs moved from Cividale to Udine, where the patriarch’s palace was raised, Udine became the most important centre of commerce and traffic. Under the rule of the Venetian Republic from 1420 to 1797, Udine was the second most important town of the republic. During World War I and until the Battle of Caporetto, it was the headquarters of the Italian high command and received the appellation “the war headquarters”. Only after the post-war years did it become the capital of the Province of Friuli.
There are many monuments in the city worth visiting: the castle situated on a hilltop above the city, the cathedral, the Loggia del Lionello, the Archbishop’s Palace with Tiepolo’s frescos, the elegant Venetian-style Libertà Square (with a wonderful clock tower from 1850, on top of which there are two Moors striking the hours), and S. Giacomo Square, which along with Via Mercatovecchio represents the heart of the town. Among the more recent acquisitions is the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine, which was inaugurated in 1997. Since the end of the 1970s, the city of Udine has been a university centre.
The whole territory of the Province of Udine is rich and diverse. It comprises the sandy areas of the lagoon, the cultivated areas of the Bassa Friulana and the pre-Alpine range of the Dolomiti di Forni, the Carnic and Julian Alps.