The history of the foundation of Ravenna has been lost over the centuries. Legend has it that the city was built by settlers from Thessaly, or more likely by the Umbrians…
Dante Alighieri, the great Italian poet who was expelled from his hometown of Florence, died in the night between September 13 and 14, 1321 in Ravenna. He was buried…
The last Byzantine masterpiece in Ravenna is the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe. The small city, Civitas Classis on the Adriatic coast, was the port in Ravenna which hosted seafarers…
On the first floor of the archbishop’s palace there is a small museum; Collected treasures from the ancient churches of Ravenna are on display in its rooms. In the first room you…
The first building to be erected during Theodoric’s reign was the Arian Baptistery, a monument still present today. It was built next to the ancient church of the Resurrection…
The Ostrogoth King, Theodoric the Great was born in 454. In his youth he was held hostage and educated at the Imperial Court of Constantinople. Later he took control of the Kingdom of…
Built in the shape of a Greek cross and crowned by a low tower, this small cube-shaped chapel of the imperial court, dedicated to St Lawrence, the celestial patron of the family of Theodosius…
The Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna bears witness to the power and influence of the Byzantine Empire in Western Europe. Taking the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople as its model,…