Day 01
Ravenna UNESCO Monuments and Byzantine Masterpieces
- Connect with your tour guide at the Basilica of San Vitale to start the program.
- Admire the unique Early-Christian and Byzantine mosaics at the Basilica of S. Vitale, dating from the first half of the 6th century, including its beautiful panels showing Emperor Justinian with his fascinating wife, Theodora.
- Then, head to the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, built at the beginning of the 5th century and commissioned by the Roman Empress of the Western Roman Empire. Upon entering, you will be impressed by the magnificence of its decorations and mosaic scenes, and especially by the unreal atmosphere that surrounds you.
- The next stop is the Neonian Baptistery, also dating from the beginning of the 5th century. This Catholic baptistery is richly decorated with beautiful mosaics, stuccos, and inlays of polychrome marble.
- Afterwards, go to the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, once the private chapel of the Ostrogoths. Here, King Theoderic displayed the unforgettable processions of virgins and martyrs dating back to the Byzantine period.
- Later, proceed to the Tomb of the poet Dante Alighieri, the father of the Italian language and the author of the Divine Comedy, his literary masterpiece.
- Lastly, visit the Archiepiscopal Museum, which houses the famous 6th-century ivory throne and the mosaic of the Virgin in a praying position, as well as the Chapel of Saint Andrew, showing Christ the Warrior from the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th century, and King Theodoric's Arian Baptistery, an ancient building from the Ostrogoth period.
