The March of Verona and Aquileia was a vast march (frontier district) of the Holy Roman Empire in the northeastern Italian peninsula during the Middle Ages, centered on the cities of Verona and Aquileia. Seized by King Otto I of Germany in 952, it was held by the Dukes of Bavaria; from 976 in personal union with the Duchy of Carinthia. The margravial regime ended with the advent of the Lombard League in 1167. Geography The march roughly comprised the historic Friuli and Veneto regions from the border with Lombardy and the Chiese River in the west to the Tagliamento and the Isonzo (Soča) in the east, the upper Soča valley within the Julian Alps is today part of the Slovenian Goriška region. Initially it also included present-day Trentino uphill to the Adige river in the northwest. Except for the lagoons controlled by Venice, it stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the crest of the Dolomites and the Carnic Alps in the north, where the mountainous Carnia region borders with Carinthia. The western lands around Verona comprised the Po Valley, the Euganean and Berici Hills, the Venetian Prealps and Lake Garda. Beside the capital Verona near the southwestern border with Tuscany, the march included the episcopal seat of Aquileia, the historic Friulian capital Udine with nearby Cividale and the port of Grado in the east, as well as the major cities of Vicenza, Treviso, and Padua, which played a vital role in forming the Lombard League. The March of Verona was a strategically important province, which governed the southern approaches to the Alpine passes leading to Germany, and significant in the—ultimately failed—attempts of the Holy Roman Emperors to maintain the rule over Italy. History The Marca Veronensis et Aquileiensis was created by King Berengar I of Friuli about 890 as part of a general restructuring of his realm, when it replaced the former Carolingian March of Friuli last held by Berengar's liensman Walfred. It was separated from the Italian kingdom after the German king Otto I had campaigned against King Berengar II of Italy in 951. At the Reichstag meeting at Augsburg in the next year, Berengar II retained Italy, but had to renounce the Veronese march, which was attached to the stem duchy of Bavaria under Otto's brother Duke Henry I. At that time the March of Istria was attached to Verona as a county. From 952 to 975,