Day trip to Ravenna

View of a piazza in Ravenna
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This day I went to Ravenna with Brittany and Allison. We took the train around 9 in the morning and arrived in Ravenna a couple hours later.

From the train station it wasn't very far to get to the center of the town. It was such a gorgeous day and Ravenna is a very quiet, picturesque town that it made for a really great trip.

Ravenna is famous for its churches that are filled with mosaics. Most works of art around Florence that I am used to seeing are frescoes, so it was a nice change to see someting as beautiful as these. My favorite was the Basilica di San Vitale. (Actually, I thought it was a steal. For 7 Euro we were able to get into 5 different places even though we only went to 3 it was well worth the price.) The outside of the church is kind of misleading for all of the beautiful mosaics that are inside of it. It is a brown, brick building that has a weird shape to it - kind of an octagonal shape which is different from what we are used to in terms of churches. It really didn't look like a church from the outside. Inside, however, the church was gorgeous! It housed my favorite dome that I have seen so far in Italy. It was a fresco instead of mosaics like a lot of the other art inside the church, but I fell in love with it. The church has 2 main levels that are visible, but we could only tour around the bottom level. The arches and columns are amazing how they stand on each other and give the space this granduer I have never seen before. It was just amazing. The altar area of the church was completely covered with mosaics, arched windows, and marble. It was gorgeous, and when the light comes in through the windows and hits the mosaics the whole church just sparkles that it is unbelievable.

Basilica di San Vitale
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Behind San Vitale is the Battistero degli Ariani that also had gorgeous mosaics inside. Its main mosaic is featured on the ceiling of the Battistero and depicts the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Again the colors and designs inside are just amazing! After looking around inside we signed the guest book so that we would have documentation of our arrival to the Battistero. Looking back in the pages there weren't very many people from the United States to go there (who signed the book that is), so it was kind of unique for us. :)

Mosaic in the Battistero degli Ariani
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After spending a lot of time in San Vitale and the Battistero we walked around to find Dante's tomb which unfortunately was closed for restoration. Too bad for us, but at least Florence has a monument to him so I won't be completely lacking of Dante appreciation.

We decided to grab a bite to eat which ended up being pizza in a little pizza place in the center of town. From there we went to a type of fortress towards the outside edge of the historical center of Ravenna. The outer walls are still visible, but the inside areas have been turned into a park with some building structures sill visible. It would have been a cute place to eat a picnic lunch had we had one.

Entrance to the fortress park
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The last place we went was the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo which also houses amazing mosaics. This basilica fits the more conventional appearances of a church being a more rectangular shape than circular. It was gorgeous, and again the outside does not do the inside justice. The mosaics inside are huge, and they were done by multiple people working at the same time. It was comissioned for the emperor Theodoric depicting religious martyrs on one side and his palace on the other. The altar area looks as if it doesn't belong inside this basilica since it doesn't have any mosics in it at all and is decorated in a completely different style from the rest of the church. It is adorned by frescoes and ceramics on the walls and ceiling instead of mosaics.

Inside of Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
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I really loved Ravenna. Even though I have said that I have loved everywhere I have travelled to, Ravenna has probably been my favorite so far. It is just a really cute town. I barely saw any traffic the whole day and the streets and atmosphere of the city are just charming and beautiful. Not to mention all of the mosaics in the churches are stunning and completely different from anything I have ever seen. They are gorgeous! So, Ravenna is my top pick for a day trip here in Italy.