It receives fewer tourists than the great cities of the Italian Renaissance, but Ravenna has its own, highly distinctive treasures, says Norman Miller in The Times. Situated 90 miles south of Venice, an easy cycle ride from the beautiful beaches of the Adriatic coast, this “magical” town was the capital of three empires in succession – Western Roman, Ostrogoth and Byzantine – between AD402 and AD751.
The magnificent churches their rulers built still stand, and the mosaics that adorn their interiors are amazingly well preserved. Dante lived (and died) in Ravenna after his exile from Florence, and Byron spent three years here. To Wilde, it was a “poet’s city”, and it has also inspired painters such as Klimt, who first used gold in his work after seeing its mosaics.
Among the oldest of Ravenna’s great buildings is the mausoleum of Galla Placidia (half-sister of Emperor Honorius), with its depictions of the night sky, doves drinking, and Jesus as “a young man, lively and happy”. Next door, the “soaring” Basilica di San Vitale has “shimmering” mosaics of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora in “lush greens, brilliant gold and deep blues”. In the Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo is the oldest known artistic image of the Last Supper, created nearly a millennium before Leonardo’s.
And these masterpieces of the Dark Ages are not Ravenna’s only attractions. There’s a good museum of modern art and another dedicated to Dante, and the town’s restaurant scene is excellent. The coast, with its golden beaches and seafood restaurants, is four miles to the east, and 20 miles north is Comacchio, a “colourful” 17th century town built around canals like a “miniature Venice“. For centuries, it was “the eel capital of Europe”, a heritage chronicled in the “evocative” Manifattura dei Marinati museum. It sits beside the watery Po Delta national park. “Puttering” in a boat through its “serene” lagoon channels, I didn’t see another human for an hour – just flamingos “taking to the air at our approach”.