(Thank you, Wikipedia).
The most famous churches in Ravenna, being built just before or during Byzantine rule, are famous for their mosaics. We had seen some pictures of the mosaics in class last semester with Alfonso, but I was not prepared for the awe of seeing them in person. Apart from being beautiful- which they are- I was struck by the talent the images I was looking at must have necessitated. Every single tessera, or piece of the mosaic, was cut by hand. Actually, every single part of the process was done by hand. Any tools at the time were primitive. I'm not even sure that I'm worthy of attempting to describe them, so here are some images (not that they will do much more justice than I will):
Chiesa di San Vitale
Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
Sant'Apollinare in Classe
After a morning of sightseeing, we were, of course, quite hungry. We had a beautiful lunch at a restaurant called Ca` de Ven, which is located in an ancient building. We had a typical Romagnola lunch called piadina, which is basically a cross between a pancake and pita bread (tastes much better than it sounds) served with a platter of cured meats (easily my favorite thing this country has to offer) and a soft cheese called squacquerone. It looks a little bit like cottage cheese, but unlike cottage cheese it's actually worth eating.
You know that scene in Austin Powers where Fat Bastard is like "GET IN MY BELLY!"? That's what I said to this plate of meat.
Throughout the day we were accompanied by our guide, Elena. In addition to being a highly knowledgeable tour guide, she also makes and restores mosaics. At every church we went to, Elena was able to focus in on different scenes or people depicted in the mosaics and explain to us the reason they were chosen. Often the patron saint of the city or the saint for whom the church is named appears, and it also isn't odd to find images of the political leaders at the time of construction. Different stories from both the Old and New Testaments were depicted, and Elena explained the careful reasons for which they were chosen.
Ravenna is also famous for another reason. Dante- THE Dante, author of La Divina Commedia and father of the Italian language- is buried there. Although he was born and raised in Florence, he was exiled for political reasons to Ravenna, and remained there until his death. I was expecting the tomb to be a big to-do. This is Dante we're talking about. But it wasn't. His tomb is an awkwardly located tourist attraction. It's clear that the area in which the tomb is located must have been very different at the time of his death or they never would have put it there. It is located on a more or less regular city street, cornered between the wall of a monastery and a fence. I'm not so sure how he'd feel about it.
I adored Ravenna. It is a much smaller and less bustling city than Florence, but not so much so that one would get bored there. There were lots of shops- many of which were quite high end- and a lot of bars and restaurants. The buildings were built, most likely a very long time ago, with brighter colored materials than what you see in Florence, and that brightness translated into a feeling I don't get very often here. There are significantly less tourists, and the tourists who do make it out to Ravenna aren't the annoying kind. (It takes a certain kind of person to want to make the trip, after all). Everything was so much more authentic. I was actually able to walk down a street without hearing any English! A part of me really wishes I could spend a year abroad in Ravenna, or in a city like it. Smaller, with more opportunities to speak Italian with native speakers, in a place where the people aren't jaded by tourism to the point where they are assuming and unfriendly. On the flip side, I understand the benefits of being in a larger, more international city. Once again, I'm torn.
All in all it was a beautiful day, and I hope to return to Ravenna again soon.
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