10 Euros Basilica of Aquileia

Aquileia was once among the largest cities in the Roman Empire — Ausonius ranked it fourth in the western world in the 4th century — and its early Christian basilica complex, rebuilt under Patriarch Poppo in 1031, contains one of the most extensive late antique mosaic floors surviving anywhere in Europe. UNESCO added the site to the World Heritage List in 1998, and Italy's commemorative coin program has returned to it more than once as a subject.

This 2010 issue was part of Italy's ongoing series honoring UNESCO-listed heritage sites, authorized under the broader commemorative framework the Repubblica Italiana established in the 1990s to systematically document national patrimony in silver.