When I want to understand the history of Italy
I take a train and travel to Ravenna
Arnaldo Momigliano

Ravenna is a city that is able to SURPRISE with elegance and discretion. It is a few kilometres away from the Adriatic Sea, hanging in the balance between the East and the West, right in the heart of Romagna.

Seven of its eight World Heritage monuments have been enshrining for more than 1500 years an incomparable treasure: precious tiles narrate through their colour and iconographic combinations the artistic splendour of a city that, between the 5th and the 6th century A.D., was one of the most important centres of the known world.

Ravenna was three times capital (of the Roman Empire, of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, of the Byzantine Exarchate), and behind the illusory plainness of its buildings’ façades it hides an excessive richness of details and stories to listen to, fast bikes whizzing by, ringing bells, and bypassers standing and talking to each other in the main square, the Piazza del Popolo, the civil and social centre of the city. Ravenna may seem like many other cities, but it conceals an extraordinary and unexpected vitality.

Mosaics are always the first attraction, of course, they are the centre of everything, a cross and a joy for this city. There are many itineraries, sometimes also unusual ones. Some people get their soul stolen by the stars of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia or by the magnificence of the Basilica of San Vitale. Someone gets lost turning around to admire the dome of the Orthodox Baptistery or of the Arian Baptistery. Someone else lets his gaze wander back and forth on the processions of martyrs and virgins of the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo and someone else compares the discretion of the Chapel of Sant’Andrea with the grandeur of the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe.

BUT RAVENNA IS FURTHER MORE…

If all this is not enough, then someone decides to stop in front of the imposing Mausoleum of Theoderic, Unesco World Heritage monument. Someone else searches for a direct contact with history and visits two of the most important archaeological discoveries in Italy of the last century: the Domus of the Stone Carpets and the Ancient Port of Classe.

Ravenna is like an ancient book of stories waiting for curious readers. There is a corner in this city with marked Medieval traits that is deeply connected to Dante Alighieri: here is his tomb, the Basilica of San Francesco, the Old Franciscan Cloisters and a museum dedicated to the Poet. Only a few metres away from this corner, a monumental jewel that deserves to be visited is the Classense Library: the Aula Magna and the immense cultural heritage inside its walls astound everyone.

Ravenna is A MOSAIC OF BEAUTY AND ART indeed, and there are so many things to see and to do: a tour through the piazzas and the streets of the centre with a special gaze to the monumental gates of the ancient walls or a stop in front of the Town Hall; a visit to the workshops of the mosaic artisans spread throughout the centre, as well as the Dante Alighieri Theatre and the Luigi Rasi Theatre.
Other places to see are the Garden of Forgotten Herbs, Palazzo Rasponi Dalle Teste, the Public Gardens, and further more as the Rasponi Crypt and the Roof Gardens of the “Provincia” Palace, the Brancaleone Fortress, the Basilica of San Giovanni Evangelista and the Basilica of Santa Maria in Porto Fuori. Last but not least, a walk in the City Dock (Darsena) – past and future of this wonderful city – is a good way to spend some relaxing hours.