City of Ravenna
Located just a few kilometres away from the Adriatic Sea, in the heart of Romagna, Ravenna is a city rich in art, history and culture, bearing witness to an ancient and glorious past.
Since the beginning of the 5th century AD, Ravenna was capital three times: in the last years of the Western Roman Empire (402-403), during the reign of the Goths under Theodoric (493-526) and finally under Byzantine rule (553-751).
As evidence of that historical period, no less than eight monuments of crucial importance for the modern age are still perfectly preserved and have been declared World Heritage by Unesco: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Neonian Baptistery, St. Andrew’s Chapel, Arian Baptistery, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Basilica of San Vitale and Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe with their stunning early-Christian and Byzantine mosaics, along with the Mausoleum of Theodoric, unique example of architecture.
The city offers a wide variety of cultural activities: along with the eight Unesco World Heritage monuments, many other sites of interest contribute to the reconstruction of the ancient history of the city. In this regard, particularly worth a mention are the Domus of the Stone Carpets and Classis Ravenna – Museum of the City and the Territory.
The national archaeological Museum of Ravenna offers a very important set of collections, including finds coming from excavations of Roman or Byzantine times.
In addition, the Archiepiscopal Museum and the (soon-to-open) Byron and Risorgimento Museum, dedicated to the memory of the English poet, exhibiting engravings, documents, objects dating back to the Italian Risorgimento and related to the events involving Garibaldi in Ravenna.
The MAR Ravenna Art Museum offers high-level temporary exhibition and houses various permanent collections, among which the Collection of Contemporary Mosaics, with works by artists from all over the world witnessing the liveliness of mosaic up to the present day.
Ravenna was also the place where Dante Alighieri, father of the Italian language, spent his last days as an exile and found inspiration to finish his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy. Important cultural spaces dedicated to him are in the so-called “Zone of Silence”, in the heart of the historical centre. Here are Dante Alighieri’s Tomb, the Quadrarco of Braccioforte, the Basilica of San Francesco, Museo Dante and Casa Dante. Many elements keep the relationship between the city and the poet alive: every day, a canto of the Divine Comedy is read in front of his Tomb, and in September the city hosts celebrations and events paying homage to him.
But Ravenna is not only a city of art. Its territory features a great variety of landscapes, some of which are of extreme beauty. Wide cultivated fields, lagoons and canals dotted with typical fishing huts and centuries-old pine forest overlooking sandy and equipped beaches.
The 35 kilometres of coastline are home to no less than nine beach towns – each one with its own characteristics, suitable for every kind of vacation.
Nature and open-air lovers can immerse in the natural beauties of the Po Delta Park, where rare species of birds come to nest, such as the Oasis of Punte Alberete, the historical Pine forests of San Vitale and Classe, the NatuRa Museum in Sant’Alberto, the southern Lagoons of Comacchio or the stunning Oasis of Ortazzo and Ortazzino and the area of the mouth of the Bevano river.
Ravenna, more precisely the beach town of Porto Corsini, is also home to an important cruise terminal, equipped with a pier with two docks able to accommodate two cruise ships at the same time, offering cruise passengers the ideal boarding point to discover the Adriatic and the Eastern Mediterranean.
The extraordinary richness of the monumental heritage, the sandy beaches and the lush natural areas, along with the warm hospitality that characterises Romagna and the excellent traditional dishes, make Ravenna a fascinating holiday destination for everyone all year round.
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