Ravenna, Italy Attractions

Ravenna, a provincial capital and the see of an archbishop, lies in the southeast corner of the North Italian plain, here traversed by numerous drainage canals. Originally a seaport, it is now connected with the sea by a canal 10km/6mi long linking it with Porto Corsini. With its important early medieval buildings, Ravenna is one of the most interesting towns in Italy, and visitors get a vivid impression of early medieval art.

History

In the time of the Etruscans and Romans Ravenna was a lagoon town like Venice. Augustus made the port of Portus Classis, 5km/3mi from the town, the base of the Roman Adriatic fleet. Ravenna's heyday began, however, when the Western Roman Emperor Honorius moved his court from Milan to the natural fortress of Ravenna, protected by the surrounding marches, in 402. While the rest of Italy was being devastated during the Great Migrations, an active program of building was carried out here under Honorius and his sister Galla Placidia (Regent 425-450), and the art of mosaic-working flourished. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire the Herulian Odoacer was proclaimed king by the Germanic mercenary troops and ruled the whole of Italy from Ravenna (476-493). After his murder the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great, who had been brought up in Constantinople (493-526), brought further splendor to the town, building several churches for the Arian Church, to which the Ostrogoths belonged, as well as a royal palace. In 539, under Justinian (527-565), the Byzantine general Belisarius drove out the Ostrogoths. Thereafter Ravenna became the seat of a Byzantine governor (Exarch), and, favored by the emperor, enjoyed a third period of prosperity, which introduced Byzantine art to the West. In 751, however, the Lombards put an end to the Exarchate. From 1297 to 1441 Ravenna was ruled by the Ghibelline Polenta family, for a period thereafter belonged to the Venetians and from 1509 to 1859 was incorporated in the States of the Church.