Ravenna - Byzantine gem
Published 07 May 2026
Outstandingly rich in art, architecture, culture and history
As part of an Easter exploration of Emilia-Romagna and the Veneto by Marcelle Hoff, MD of Expressions Holidays, she visited Ravenna. Here is a summary of the fascinating gem of a city of Ravenna, and some of the things to do.
Ravenna offers one of the most profoundly rewarding cultural experiences in all of Italy — and, indeed, in the whole of Europe. This is a city that wears its extraordinary history with a quiet confidence, its modest streets and intimate piazzas concealing an artistic inheritance of almost incomprehensible richness. Ravenna was, successively, the capital of the Western Roman Empire, the seat of the Ostrogothic Kingdom and the western stronghold of the Byzantine Empire, and the legacy of those remarkable centuries of power is preserved in a collection of early Christian and Byzantine mosaics that are, quite simply, without parallel anywhere in the world.
Ravenna is featured in our Three majestic art cities of northern Italy: Bologna, Ravenna and Padua.
UNESCO sites and heritage
Eight of Ravenna's monuments are listed collectively as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it requires several days to do them justice properly. The mosaics of the Basilica di San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo and the Battistero degli Ariani are not merely works of religious art — they are among the supreme achievements of human civilisation. To stand before the shimmering gold and lapis of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the oldest of the UNESCO monuments, is an experience that remains with the visitor long after they have returned home. The quality of light within these buildings is unlike anything produced by any other art form, and the expert traveller who has visited Florence, Rome and Venice will find Ravenna a revelation of an entirely different order. We include a ticket that is valid for five main sites, some to be visited at a strict time, others over the duration of the stay in Ravenna.
Cultural highlights are the Basilica di San Vitale and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (the most celebrated of the UNESCO sites), the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Battistero Neoniano, the Battistero degli Ariani, the Archbishop's Chapel and Museum (Museo Arcivescovile), the Mausoleum of Theodoric, the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe (set among the pineta outside the city and well worth the short journey, reached by train or taxi), and the Dante Museum — for Ravenna is also the final resting place of the great poet, who died here in 1321 and whose tomb is tended with great civic pride.
Gastronomy
The city itself is delightfully manageable and almost entirely free from the over-tourism that can diminish the experience of Italy's more celebrated destinations. The centro storico invites leisurely exploration on foot or by bicycle — Ravenna is a city of cyclists — and the streets between the principal monuments are lined with excellent restaurants, independent wine bars and food shops stocked with the outstanding produce of Emilia-Romagna. Ravenna is in Emilia-Romagna, Italy's most celebrated culinary region, and benefits handsomely from that provenance. The city's restaurants draw on an outstanding larder: handmade pasta in all its regional variations, aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, locally cured meats, fresh fish and shellfish from the nearby Adriatic, and the robust, characterful wines of the Romagna hills — Sangiovese di Romagna chief among them. The covered market in the centre of the city is an excellent place to begin any gastronomic exploration, and the surrounding trattorias offer the kind of honest, ingredient-led cooking that is becoming increasingly rare elsewhere in Italy.
Music and cultural festivals
The Ravenna Festival, held each summer from towards the end of May to mid-July, is among the most distinguished music festivals in Italy, attracting internationally celebrated conductors, orchestras and opera companies to perform in venues of extraordinary beauty — including the basilicas themselves. For the music-lover, timing a visit to coincide with the festival adds an incomparable dimension to the experience. Advance planning is essential, as both performances and hotel accommodation fill rapidly during the festival period.
