If you are looking for fine Italian wine and food, consider the Friuli-Venezia Giuli region of northern Italy. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you’ll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour. Friuli-Venezia Giuli is a mountainous area tucked away in the northeast corner Italy, bordering on Austria and Slovenia. Experts believe that Friuli-Venezia Giuli was first inhabited twenty thousand years ago. Like most regions of Italy, it has belonged to many nations over the years. Unlike most regions of Italy, it remains multicultural, an exceptional mixture of Italian, Austrian, and Slavic influences. To make this article easier to read, we will replace the region’s full name by its first part, Friuli. The total population is less than 1.2 million. While Friuli is home to a wide variety of agricultural products, most farmers don’t get rich. The farms tend to be small and much of the land is infertile, suitable only for grazing and grapes. Unfortunately the Adriatic sea is in poor condition and fishing is on the decline. However, a wide variety of seafood is available. Friuli’s best-known food is San Daniele prosciutto, an uncooked ham aged in sea salt for over a year. Gourmets debate whether this ham or its cousin prosciutto di Parma from the Emilia-Romagna region in northwestern Italy is the best ham in the world. Friuli’s administrative center is Trieste, which only became part of Italy in 1954. This city was once the principle port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Like Vienna, Austria, Trieste is filled with cafés. It is also home to the famous International Center for Theoretical Physics. The population of Friuli-Venezia Giulia is as diverse as the origin of its name. Italians, Slavs and central Europeans reside in the region that was once part of the Roman Empire. The name has a Latin origin from "gens Iulia," which refers to Julius Caesar's family. Friuli comes from "Forum Julii," which was the name of a market built by the Romans. Finally, the area was called Venice Giuli to recognize the Venetian citizens. Friuli-Venezia Giulia is a diverse land, as are all of the regions in northern Italy, with the Alps and woods in the north that level to agricultural areas, rivers and the Adriatic Sea in the south. The region borders Austria to the north, Slovenia to the east and Veneto to the west. Because the mountains occupy more than half of the region, agriculture is not very popular, but corn, rye, sugar beets, tobacco and fruit are produced. The maritime climate is comfortable and without very high temperatures, but the northern area in the Alps is cold. Come experience the calm and inviting beauty and a mélange of Italian, Slavic and German culture in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.