Day 01
Ravenna's UNESCO Mosaics and Monuments
- Connect with your tour guide at the Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo to start the program.
- After a walk through Piazza del Popolo, the main square, and Dante's Tomb, the tour continues to the Basilica of San Vitale. All the monuments included in our tour are in the city centre - a walkable area where we can also enjoy a good coffee.
- From Via di Roma, we will head into the city centre to reach the "silent area," where the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri lived. This area is dedicated to his memory and cult, and his tomb is a simple neoclassical building near the cloisters and Church of St. Francis, where Dante's funeral took place in 1321.
- The next monument on our tour will be the Battistero Neoniano, named after Bishop Neon, who had the Baptistery decorated with the mosaics of the dome.
- After visiting the Baptistery, we will reach the Basilica of San Vitale, the Byzantine monument "par excellence." The church has a central octagonal plan, and its incredible panels representing Emperor Justinian with his suite and Empress Theodora, his wife, are famous all over the world.
- On leaving the basilica, we will head towards the Mausoleum of the Roman Empress Galla Placidia. It was built in the first half of the 5th century, probably by Galla Placidia.
