Ravenna

Thursday, July 17

     The train was a bit late.  We had to drag our stuff down a flight of stairs.  We took a taxi to the Albergo Capello Hotel.  We clean up and nap in our very nice room…

and go to C'a de Ven for dinner.  This was the only restaurant endorsed by the Michelin Green Guide.   A mixed experience: huge amounts of nicely roasted meats, and a very good selection of local wines.  The proprietors of the vineyards each had a page with their pictures in the menu.  Bruce had a platter of chicken and rabbit.  Leslie had great sausage.  Both dishes served with some very good potatoes.  On the minus side, it was indoors, crowded, and very noisy.

Ravenna turns out to be a well-programmed tourist town.  The streets connecting the ancient buildings have only limited vehicle access (albeit unlimited bicycles).  These streets are kept very clean.  There are no garbage collection bins in sight, something not even Florence can claim.  (They must be somewhere as the city is clean.)

    Emperor Honorius abandoned Rome in 404.  At that time he made Ravenna the capital of the Roman Empire.  (Galla Placidia, sister of Honorius governed for a while.).  Then came the barbarians, including the Ostrogoth Theodoric (493-526). Ravenna traded with and then became ruled by Byzantium under Justinian (482-565).  All these influences are evident in Ravenna where the exciting art form is the mosaic.  Dante called Ravenna a "symphony of color" (citation unknown).  

Ravenna is near the sea and there are many Italian families on holiday.  This night, perhaps 1000 people turned up on the main square to watch Snow White.

Friday, July 18

A busy, hot day.  Ravenna is all about its glorious late Roman to Early Byzantine mosaics:

The National Museum visit was not rewarding.  

But the Basilica San Vitale (we met San Vitale earlier in Bologna where he shares a basilica in the San Stefano complex with Agricola; he is an early martyr) exceeds all expectations:

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia:

The Arian Bapistry.   

Arianism (attributed to Arius 259-336)  teaches that God the son is subordinate to God the father and therefore a different entity.  This teaching denies the unity of the trinity which underlies pretty much all Christian doctrine. Arius was condemned by the council of Nicaea in 325, exonerated and recondemned in 381.  It took 1000 years or so to put an end to the “Arian heresy.”    In the mid 6th century under Justinian, the baptistery became an orthodox Catholic church.

The depiction of Jesus, totally naked and beardless, is unusual.  It’s connection to Arian

doctrine, if any, is not clear to us (cf, Neonian Bapistery, tomorrow).

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Basilica di San Appolinaire Nuovo:

Almost parenthetically, Dante’s tomb is in Ravenna:

In the park next door is a mound showing where he was buried temporarlily when the Florentines tried to reclainm him.

We lucked out at dinner.  Bella Venezia.  Roast beef, in very thin slices, one wth balsamic  and  the other with rosemary and pancetta.  Lemon cake and affogato.  

Saturday July 19

Another very hot day.

We took the public bus a few miles south to Casse to see the original Basilica di San Appolinaire.  More fine mosiacs.  Plus some old tombs.

Apolonaris (Apolonaire) was the first bishop of Ravenna.  He was said to be a disciple of Saint Peter and an early martyr.  At the time of the banishment of Christians under Vespasian he was beaten by a mob and died from his injuries.  Currently, his cult is limited to those places which have an existing relationship with him, like Ravenna. This seems to be a demotion from fully recognized saint.  

It is unclear to us where the remains of Apolonaris are.  The new (Nuovo) church was built to house them because the old one (Classe) was subject to pirate raids.  But there is a tomb at Classe.

Neonian Baptistery

Notice the similarity to the Arian Bapistery, particularly in the representation of Christ, although he has a beard.  Is it theological or aesthetic?  This was commissioned by Bishop Neonius, 450-475.

We visited the Museo Arcivescovile.  Not a large museum but a couple of interesting pieces, including an ivory bishop’s throne and a thing for calculating the date of Easter.

Also in the museum is the Cappella di San Andrea with more glorious mosaics.  Yes, it is familiar.

Our last mosaics were at the  domus dei tappeti di pietra, the recently recovered floors of a house, secular mosaics.   

At 5:30, Bruce walked over to the Theodoric Tomb.  A pretty good hike across the tracks.  

This monument has sunk about 2 meters into the ground, something not uncommon among Ravenna buildings.  The soft ground leads to leaning, as with the Pisa campanille.  In fact, there are leaning towers all over Italy.  This one is near our hotel in Ravenna:

And the Bologna tower is almost as famous as Pisa:

The locals are sentimentally proud of the image.  Old souvenir prints may have exaggerated the tilt:

We went back to Bella Venezia for dinner.  We splurged (well, for us a splurge) on a bottle of C’a Viola Dolcetto d’Alba 2011 D.O.C. Barturot.  L had gnochettii con pomodoro e basilico; B tried spaghetti alla carbonara.  We shared crema catana for desert.  Excllent

 

Sunday, July 20

We dragged or suitcases down the street to the train station.  After two trains, we are now in Padua (Padova).