Ravenna Mosaics and UNESCO Monuments Guided Tour

Ravenna, capital between East and West

In 402 the Western Roman Empire moved its capital to Ravenna, then a port protected by marshes on the Adriatic. The city remained a capital under the Ostrogothic kings and later became the seat of Byzantine rule in Italy, so for more than two centuries it was a meeting point of Roman, Gothic and Eastern Mediterranean art. The result is a group of early Christian buildings whose mosaics have survived for around fifteen centuries, listed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

How to get to Ravenna? It is about an hour to an hour and twenty minutes from Bologna by direct regional train, or about an hour and a quarter by road, which makes a Ravenna day trip from Bologna very easy; the station is a short distance from the centre. Is Ravenna worth visiting? For mosaics there is nothing like it anywhere in the West, and the compact old centre is calm and pleasant to explore.

The Archiepiscopal Chapel and Museum

The Archbishop's Museum, next to Ravenna's cathedral, keeps one of the city's most precious spaces: a small cross-shaped chapel built around the year 500 as the private oratory of the bishops. Its vestibule is covered with mosaics of birds, lilies and other plants on a gold background, and the vault inside shows angels supporting a central monogram. It is the only early Christian chapel of this kind that has come down to us intact.

The museum also displays carved stonework from the old cathedral and a famous sixth-century throne entirely covered with ivory panels, one of the finest ivory works to survive from that age. This chapel is included only in the complete three-hour option of the tour, and your guide uses it to introduce the symbols you will meet again and again in the other monuments.

The Neonian Baptistery

Built at the end of the fourth century on the remains of a Roman bath house, the Neonian Baptistery is one of the oldest monuments in Ravenna. Its octagonal shape was typical of early baptisteries, and in the mid-fifth century the dome was covered with a mosaic: a central medallion surrounded by a ring of tall figures in gold and white robes on a deep blue ground, with a lower band of painted architecture.

Over the centuries the ground of Ravenna has sunk, so the original floor now lies about three metres below its first level, and the building feels lower than it once was. The Hellenistic-Roman style of the figures, with their natural movement and soft folds, is quite different from the stiffer Byzantine images you see later in San Vitale, and your guide shows you how to spot the change.

The Basilica of San Vitale

The Basilica of San Vitale was begun in 526 and consecrated in 547, during the Byzantine period. Its octagonal plan, with a high central dome and an upper gallery, was unusual in the West and influenced later imperial churches north of the Alps. Light falls from the windows onto marble columns with carved capitals that look like lace, and onto the mosaics of the apse, in shining green and gold.

The most famous panels show the emperor and the empress of Constantinople with their courts and soldiers, bearing gifts for the church: rare portraits of real figures from the sixth century, dressed in purple, pearls and precious stones. Around them are scenes from the Old Testament, landscapes full of birds and plants, and a beardless young figure enthroned on a blue globe in the apse. Many visitors consider San Vitale the highlight of any Ravenna mosaics tour.

The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

In the grassy courtyard behind San Vitale stands a small cross-shaped brick building that looks very simple from outside. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia dates from the second quarter of the fifth century and, despite its name, probably never served as a tomb. Step inside and the walls disappear under the oldest and best-preserved mosaics in Ravenna.

The vault is a deep night-blue sky covered with golden stars around a central cross, and the lunettes show deer drinking from a spring among acanthus scrolls and a shepherd surrounded by his flock. The light filters through thin alabaster windows, giving the interior a warm glow. Visits to the mausoleum are short and in small numbers, which is one reason why going with a guide who manages the entry times saves effort and waiting.

The Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo

Sant'Apollinare Nuovo was built in the early sixth century as the palace church of the Ostrogothic king who ruled Ravenna. Its long nave keeps one of the greatest mosaic cycles in the world: along both walls, long processions of white-robed figures move towards the apse between palm trees, while the upper bands show scenes from the Gospels in small panels.

Look closely at the ends of the processions: on one side is the royal palace of Ravenna, on the other the old port of Classe with its ships and lighthouse. When the Byzantines took the city, some figures in the palace scene were removed, and you can still see hands left on the columns. This basilica closes the complete tour; in the shorter option you visit it on your own with the ticket included.