Ravenna Travel Guide: Exploring Ancient Treasures and Byzantine Marvels
Ravenna is a city at the eastern end of the Po Valley. Because of its location, it was safe from the chaos at the end of the Roman Empire for hundreds of years.
To the east was the Adriatic Sea, which made it easy and fairly safe to communicate with Constantinople. To the west, north, and south were marshy areas that, better than any fortification, made it hard to move and stopped raids that upset the Italian boot in those centuries.
Because of its location, it was chosen as the capital three times: from 402 to 476 AD, when it was the head of the Western Roman Empire; from 493 to 553 AD, when it was the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths; and from 568 to 751 AD, when it was the capital of the Byzantine Exarchate.
Getting to Ravenna
Today, it is easy to get to Ravenna thanks to the A14 motorway and the E45 expressway, which connects the city to Orte in northern Lazio. If you come to Ravenna by train, you can get there from Ferrara, Bologna, Faenza, or Rimini, giving you a few options. If you want to get somewhere quickly, like by plane, there are three good airports: Bologna, which is just over an hour away on the highway, and Forl and Rimini, which are closer but have fewer flights.
What to visit in Ravenna
Its historic center is closed to cars, so you can walk or ride a bike there safely. Flat land makes it easy to get around on two wheels, and Ravenna is one of the Italian cities with the most cyclists.
Tourists are told not to drive in the city center and instead use public transportation. Ravenna is also known for its complicated road system, which changes several times a year and has made the city seem like a real-life labyrinth to Italians.
Ravenna is an art city first and foremost, and you can’t get a good look at it without starting at the Basilica of San Vitale, an early Christian complex with amazing mosaics that make it one of the most important sacred art places in the world.
Part of the site is also the small but very interesting tomb of Galla Placidia. The mosaics inside are very beautiful, and you will remember the night sky for a long time. The early Christian and Byzantine religious monuments of Ravenna were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996 because of how important they were.
There are more beautiful works of art in the middle of Ravenna. The Baptistery of the Orthodox, also called the Neonian Baptistery, is close to the cathedral. It has an octagonal shape and beautiful mosaics.
Near the train station is the beautiful church of San Giovanni Evangelista, which is not far from the complex of S. Francesco and the nearby Tomb of Dante, where the hiking trail of the Cammino di Dante begins. and S. Apollinare Nuovo, a beautiful church built during the time of Theodoric. The side walls of the naves are covered with mosaics that make the walls look very nice.
Next to it are the ruins of the Palace of Theodoric, whose original purpose is still a topic of discussion.
The Battistero degli Ariani is another place you can’t miss. It has beautiful Byzantine mosaics and is close to the train station and the Church of the Holy Spirit.
To the north of the historic center are the Rocca Brancaleone, where cultural events are held in the summer, and the interesting Mausoleum of Theodoric, which has a dome made from a single piece of rock that cracked while it was being put together.
The museums in the city are also very interesting. Near the cathedral are the beautiful Chapel of S. Andrea and the interesting Archiepiscopal Museum, which has artifacts from the past.
Along Via di Roma, next to the Basilica of Santa Maria in Porto, is the MAR, which is the Art Museum of the City of Ravenna. It has a gallery with paintings and sculptures from the 14th to the 20th centuries, as well as a beautiful collection of mosaics from the present day.
Five kilometers from the city center, there is one more church that you can’t miss: the Basilica of Santa Apollinare in Classe. It is a Byzantine jewel with beautiful mosaics and is close to a beautiful coastal pine forest.
Nearby, a new museum called the Classis Museum has just opened. It has a lot of the city’s ancient artifacts.
Events, festivals, and shows
We mention the Ravenna Jazz Festival in the spring, the Pine Nut Festival in the spring, the Cappelletti Festival in September in the nearby village of Porto Fuori, and the Notte d’Oro, which is held twice a year, in the spring and in the fall.
Weather and when to go
Ravenna has a continental climate, but the temperature changes are less extreme because it is close to the Adriatic Sea.
Summers are hot and sometimes sticky, with highs between 31 and 22 °C and lows between 20 and 22 °C. It doesn’t rain very often. In the afternoon, the sea breeze blows, which, even though it brings the temperature down by a few degrees, makes it more humid.
Fog is most common in autumn and winter, which are the rainiest times of year, especially in the evening and early morning. In recent years, however, the fog has become less intense. Winter lows are close to zero degrees, but ice and snow don’t happen here all that often.
The best time to go is in the spring, from April to May, or at the end of summer, from the end of August to the beginning of October, when the weather is nice and it’s easy to walk around the city’s historic sites.