RAVENNA

KATIA:   "Dove vuoi andare oggi, James?"  ( Where do you go today, James?)

JAMES:  " Ravenna"

KATIA:   "Dove? "  (where?)

JAMES:    "RAVENNA"

KATIA:    "No lo so, non capisco" ( I don't know. I don't understand)

JAMES:    One more time..."R A V E N N A!"

KATIA:    "Ahhh!", "You mean, Ra  van na."  ( Rah  vayn  na )  don't forget to roll the 'r'.

JAMES:    " Yes, there too!"

IN ORDER TO GET THERE

 YOU HAVE TO GO THERE

When the crowds of Rome and Florence get to you and the physical challenge of walking six miles a day on worn and uneven cobbles break your knees and you are up to your neck in the Renaissance and Baroque and you have "done" it what seems like a million times, then it is time to refresh yourself and head to the Adriatic to the jewel that is Ravenna.


Ravenna is not on the way to somewhere else. It is a destination and expect an overnight. Ravenna sits on what was an old Roman Naval Port on Italy's Adriatic shore. The sea has receded  a bit so now the town is slightly inland. Ravenna is now known for it's amazing collection of glorious mosaics.


A BIT O' HISTORY OR GETTING OUT OF DODGE

Remember when Rome was coming apart, the orgies were over, the aqueducts destroyed, the population decimated by disease...well, it became clear that the only option left was to get out of town and head east to Constantinople ( named for the Emperor Constantine, now Istanbul). As an interim  stop along the way Ravenna became the new 'Eastern" Capitol of the Roman Empire. There, the now Christian Emperors built Churches, Baptistries and Tombs. To decorate these buildings they brought in artists trained in mosaics, creating images using tiny pieces of  colored glass. Think of covering the hull of a cruise ship with stamps...in other words, it took a lot of glass pieces ( tessera) to make a picture.



SANT' APOLLONARE IN CLASSE

Since we were coming up from Umbria, our first stop was the church of Sant' Apollinare in Classe on the outskirts of town. As an introduction, it did not disappoint.

FESTA DI CAPPELLACCI
( the original  bad cheese hats)

After arriving in town we were greeted in the Piazza Popolo with the Festival of the local pasta, Cappellacci ( little  bad hats), egg pasta bundles stuffed with cheese. All the restaurants in town were there for a Cappellacci Smack Down. After eating more than we needed to it was time to move on, but not before coffee.

SAN VITALE

( the real big cheese)

What can I say, simply amazing!

Empress Theodora was a beautiful actress who married well.

The first beardless depiction of Christ.

"It was at times like being in an M.C. Escher print."
                                    - Paul Turina

MAUSOLEUM  of GALLA PLACIDIA

"The best is yet to come."
                             -Elida Wassman

Elida led us to the last building of the day as I was well past my 35 minutes of art tolerance. Galla Placidia was in her day the most powerful person in the Empire, but, she ain't here, she is in Rome. It don't matter.


THIS PLACE IS HOT

As alabaster ages it develops a beautiful golden hue.

St. Lawrence shown here with his implement of  martyrdom, the grill.

As we leave we look up to those stars that have been shining in Ravenna for fifteen hundred years...
Buonanotte Ravenna.


Next stop - Padua and the Blue Scrovegni Chapel of Giotto.