Posted by Arriving in Ravenna via a lunch stop in Ferarra was an easy trip trough the river plains of the Po valley across the region diagonally to reach the coast region . It was easy to find our Hotel as ravenna is not a big city and parking was on-site which made things very comfortable. Our room is massive in an old Palazzo, Galletti Abbiosi right in the centre and just a 5 minute walk to the main Piazza. One settled in we headed off to find an aperitivo and enjoy the passageta on a thursday night. No sooner had we sat down and got our drinks and i hear my name called out! And there they were again Ross anbd Jane Heditch from Melbourne again walking through the Piazza to have a drink just like us. Three times in the past two weeks is abit freaky so we sat down with them and thier newly wed son and daughter-inlaw and enjoyed an aperitivo together and chatted for about an hour before they had to leave for a dinner reservation.
The Piazza del Popolo is the heart of Ravenna and everything fans out from the centre so the perfect place to watch the world go by, enjoy a drink and a meal and watch the regular entertainment.
Walking around at night reveals some facinating sights, from modern adaptations of the old Mercato into a gastronomical feat arena, to lit up Medieval churches and ancient Roman palace ruins through to a homage to the leaders of the Italian unification movement on a wall on a suburban street . The blue Italian night skies are always enchanting and every night the streets are alive with diners and activity around the porticos.
Our first morning adventure was to start on the mosaic trail which led us to the smallest chapel first which was the Arian Baptistry with its singular feature being the ceiling dome of christ’s baptism. Simple, elegant and a perfect start to the day as things got more and more amazing as the day unfolded.
We wandered around a bit through the centre of town and came to the Mausoleum Galla Placidia which was dedicated to Theodoric’s wife and although also on the small side it made up for it with amazing details and themes of nature, florals and three dimensional geometrics amongst the obligitory angles, clerics and saints.
The mica windows added a real firey element to the room and the interplay of the conflicting styles of mosaics added a nice bit of chaos to the scene.
The Romanesque style of building from the 7th century also had some of the first ever flying butress walls ever built to enable the higher domes to stand up and the effect inside the Basillica san Vitale was astounding, allowing light and scale to work in harmony. the green based mosaics are some of the best ever created and the extent and detail of the works are incomparable.
Much of the scenes are of nature and the interplay between the life on earth and in the heavens
There is very much a story at play here with the lamb of god at the centre but the real winner is the colour, so alive and inbedded in nature.
The Roman marble cladding at the base, the flooring and the stunning sub arches on the mezzanine are so alike the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul which i am sure was the inspiration for this stunning building. We could have sent hours inside but after about an hour our necks needed a rest so it was on to the next stop after a cafe stop to take a break.
To many people the Baptistry of Neon is the pinnacle of Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna and we can understand why, but it is purely personal choice as they all have thier uniqueness but this ceiling dome is certainly next level detail and when combined with the walls leading up to it and the variety of images of both clerical and domestic life between all the saints and sinners it is captivating.
So much detail in these scenes thgat depict the life and times of the clergy and well to do in the 6th century.
The Baptistry is adjacent to the ravenna Duomo and the Duomo archive museo which houses some fascinting ivory furniture and more lovely mosaics from the 8th century.
The ubiquitos local pine tree is the tree of choice in this coastal town and they play a big roles in the Piazza’s around town.
We had some great meals in ravenna but the most memorable was at the famous Ca’ de Ven which is located in an old 12th century shop and warehouse and serves amazing fresh local food and biggest and tasties steaks i have ever encountered…the vegies were also exceptional but there was no way i was going to get through it all. We were sitting next to a hens night table and it was lots of fun along with the fabulous atmosphre of a buzzing friday night.
Our next mosaic experience was just across the road from our hotel at the Basillica Sant Apollinare Nouvo with its Romanesque rectangular nave and saints left right and centre along the walls.
The scenes depict Theodoric and his retinue along with christ and saints as well as Theodorics wife Audofleda along a whole wall.
The three wise men are featured along with various structure palace scenes and even a Roman boats in a port so very different and applicable to the times with Ravenna being the new capital of the western Roman empire and the major trading and Naval port considering most trade was to the east.
On our last day we headed down to the beach at Lido di Dante for a swim which was very average all round but at least we got into the Adriatic sea.
We witnessed a wedding at the San Francesco church and it was the wedding of the bride at the dinner the night before so we watched as it all unfolded from the cafe on the Piazza.
Ravenna is also adorned with the new Graffiti Poster pop art scene and these were just as brilliant as Bologna and we loved the super woman theme and the goggles as well
The vespa, light post, window and pop art was just too good to resist in one awesome shot and such a great representation of the locality.
So many styles, so much subtlety and so much creativity in these piesces that appear all over town…love it.
The Palzzo Galletti Abbiosi outside and our massive room inside with the amazing frescoed ceiling and terazzo floor.
Our last night and we booked a table outside at the Fresco ristorante cafe and it turned out to be an outstanding choice on a busy and vibrant saturday night.
Everywhere was buzzing and even dead zones during the day turned out to be hidden resturants at night that filled with locals with big tables filling the Piazza out the front of a church .
The last ancient church on the mosaic trail was the Sant Appolinare in Classe, a valliage just out of town in the countryside where it sits on its own as a shrine for pilgrims as it was on the seashore back in the 6th Century and a welcome sanctuary for sailors and merchants alike.
The particular highlight is the half dome above the altar with its natural pasture setting and sheep as the main focus arounfd Jesus and the heavens. very much a different take on the traditional approach with really interesting plants and geometrics surrounding the arches and windows.
The hand of god is a well known part of these scenes and is the first recorded example of something that beacame polular as a result after it appeared here. But it is rural scenes that really captured our attention in detail with birds flying, tress, plants, flowers and rocks in random.
A nice statue of Tiberius out the front of the church pointing the way to Rome is on the original Roman road that linked to Bologna and through the Appinines to Florence along with a good Taurean bull herd staues could not be avoided for the Taurean Touristblob to be captured.
