On the one-hour drive in morning rush-hour traffic from Bologna to Ravenna, our GPS Navigator lead us through some NOT very picturesque roads and areas. We were beginning to doubt that a day trip to Ravenna was a very good idea. But once we arrived into the historic center of the city of approximately 140,000 inhabitants, we found it to be surprisingly beautiful with its sober ecclesiastical buildings almost concealing the more beautiful dazzling riches found inside. The extraordinary Christian mosaics of Ravenna from the 5th & 6th centuries and from both the Roman and Byzantine Schools are befittingly included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. We had intended to visit only the two most well-known sites of the mosaics, the Chiesa di San Vitale and the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia. However, when we bought our 7.50€ tickets, it also included three additional sites and a small map with the path marked out to each of the sites, so we spent the afternoon searching out and exploring the Museo Arcivescovile, the Battistero Neoniano, and the Basilica di San Apollinare Nuovo; and each one seemed more impressive than the previous one.
San Apollinare Nuovo Bell Tower
San Apollinare Nuovo – Mosaic of a Procession of Martyrs
San Apollinare Nuovo – Mosaic of the Three Magi
My favorite mosaics were found in the Basilica di San Apollinare Nuovo, but, actually, all of the mosaics we encountered on the Mosaic Tour were amazing. Unfortunately, these photos do not do justice to the brilliance of the colors, nor to the perspective of having these stories in tile set out all around you.
Sepolcro di Dante – Dante’s Sepulchre
Ravenna is also one of the cities where Dante took refuge after his exile from Florence, and where he died in 1321. A visit to his 18th-century tomb seemed to be on every tourist’s list today. I would say that a day trip was definitely not enough time to take in everything there is in Ravenna, but we actually never really intended to go there at all. It was only when we got close to Bologna and noticed on the map that Ravenna was practically next door, that we decided to take a day to check it out. And we’re glad we did.