Ravenna

Ravenna is one of my favorite cities in Italy, though it's often over looked by the rushing guided tours. When I was first considering the idea of going to Italy and thus fulfilling my #1 life goal, I knew I couldn't go there without visiting Ravenna.  I know what you're thinking.  Ravenna?  WTF for? Let me tell you. I'm a HUGE lover of anything Byzantine.  And one of the people I admire most in history is the Empress Theodora All my life I've seen the same picture of her, the mosaic that was done by someone who had seen her in life.

                                                                       Yeah, that one.
I asked my professor, "We going to Ravenna by any chance?"  "No, but you can," she said.  And that got my gears turning.  So, after my class group left, I stayed in Italy and went down to Ravenna. It was a cold, rainy day when I got there but I went out and wandered the streets anyway.  For me, wandering around is the best way to get to know a place. Just by wandering I encountered a Venetian fort, Theodoric's tomb, San Vitale and Dante's tomb. (Don't worry, I'll go over each one.)
Ravenna has a small historical center surrounded by a modern industrial city.  However, the history that it does have is very impressive. 

Okay, let's go over the history of Ravenna for a bit.  It was a port town in Roman times but no one really knows much about it before that.  Caesar gathered his army there before crossing the Rubicon and it was a Navy port for the Empire.  In the 5th century Emperor Honorius moved the capitol of the Roman Empire there.  Not bad, so far?  But then the Empire moved the capitol back to Rome just in time for it to fall.  Then the Goths moved in and finally Theodoric, King of the Goths settled in Ravenna and used it as his capital.  Now the strange thing about Theodoric the barbarian Goth was that he was actually a pretty swell guy.  He kept the Roman system of laws for the locals, continued to build Roman style palaces and churches and when a crazy bishop had all the synagogues burned down, he ordered that the citizens rebuild the synagogues at their own expense.  The fact is, he was hardly a barbarian and many great, old buildings from his rule are still right there for you to see.  His mausoleum is there as well, though his body isn't.  When the Eastern Roman Empire reconquered Ravenna and used it as its Italian capitol, they took Theodoric's body and tossed it into the sea.  Nice guy or not, to the Byzantines he was still a heathen barbarian. (He was Arian Christian, btw.)

Then the Lombards came and took over Ravenna followed by the Franks, the Pope, the Venetians and then the Pope again.  Long story. 
SAN VITALE
This Byzantine church is the reason I went to Ravenna.

It's a "Greek Cross" style church where the wings of the cross are all the same length. It's also sunk into the marshy land over the years.  Typical of Byzantine style, the church is kinda plain on the outside, but like an ugly girl, its what's on the inside that counts!

"Glittering mosaics in dim light" doesn't begin to describe San Vitale.  In the apse, the rounded area up front there, has the mosaics of Justinian and Theodora on either side of the windows.  I must tell you that mosaics loose much from photography.  You really have to see them in life to understand just how beautiful they are.

Mausoleum of Galla Placida
Right next to San Vitale is a small little, private chapel that for some reason is called a mausoleum. Galla Placida was buried in her family crypt in Rome just so you know.  But like a bad nickname from High School, the nickname stuck.

Rocca Brancaleone
This is a fort built by the Venetians in the 15th century.  It does not have a Wikipedia page in English and the Italian page is also sorely lacking.  It has a very peaceful park in front of it and when it's open you can look around the old fort.

Sant'Apollinare Nuovo 
This is a church built in 504 by Theodoric and originally it was covered in mosaics that showed a lot of Goth themes.  So when the Byzantines came in, they plastered new mosaics over the "too Gothy" ones but you can still see a hand or leg from the old Goth mosaics.

This mosaic runs down the entire length of the church and it shows female saints or virgins.  The opposite side shows males.   The mosaics also show a representation of Theodoric's old palace.

As you can see, it looks pretty Roman.
Here's the outside of the church.

As I was aimlessly wandering around, I stumbled on to Dante's tomb.  Now I had just visited Florence a week before and knew that Dante's tomb was in Florence.  However, Florence exiled Dante and he died in Ravenna and was buried there.  The tomb in Florence is empty.

There are many other sites to see in Ravenna, some very old churches, Arian baptestries. (Not Aryan as in Nazi crap, but Arian as in an early sect of Christianity.)  And there are some cool monuments and a very classy theater. 
Here's a monument to Anita Garibaldi and all the people who died in Italy's unification. Also, its an excuse to show a woman in armor. 

Here's that theater with some very cool statues in front.

So, if you like beautiful art, interesting and complex histories, I'd definitely suggest Ravenna for an Italian destination!