Ravenna in half a day
- 3 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- 4 languages
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
You can visit Ravenna even in half a day: this will be enough to know its culture and history and to realize how this town is rich in architecture and art by the knowledge of the different religions that during the past strongly influenced all the mosaics decorations and its buildings.
Inclusions
What's included
- Guided tour
What's not
- Lunch
- single entrance ticket to 5 monuments
Itinerary
Our tour will start from the Church of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo and after walking in Piazza Del Popolo the main square and Dante’s tomb area will end at the Basilica of San Vitale. (first half VI cent.). All the monuments involved in our tour are in the city centre – walking area where we can also also drink a good coffee! Sant’Apollinare Nuovo (end V cent.) is in Via di Roma near the railway station. This area is very quiet. The external of the church is very simple but inside you can find beautiful mosaics decorations of Justinianean age (Catholic) and the age of Theodoric (Arian faith) . In fact this church has been defined the “church for two religions”: we will discover together why. The king Theodoric in fact (454-526) of arian religion commissioned the building of this church at the end of V cent. Mosaics decorations got inspiration from the influence of the greek-roman taste and from Justinian mosaic taste . Consequently it is the most characteristic building concerning the ravennate byzantine art. Mosaics decorations on the walls allow us to follow the evolution from the age of king Theodoric to Justinian one, an important melting port of different cultures and languages.
From Via di Roma we will go to the city centre to reach the “silent area” : here the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri lived. This area is dedicated to its memory and cult . His tomb is a simple neo-classical building near St.Francis cloisters and church in which in 1321 Dante’s funerals took place.
Next monument of our tour will be the Battistero Neoniano (beg.V cent.) from bishop Neon who got the baptistery decorated with the mosaics of the dome. It is situated near the actual cathedral and it is richly decorated with stuccos, inlays of polychrome marbles and mosaics: different techniques integrated themselves perfectly to give life to an extraordinary united and harmonic complex.
After the visit to the Baptistery we will reach the basilica of San Vitale (VI cent.) the byzantine monument “par excellence” . The church has a central octagonal plan and its wonderful panels that represent the emperor Justinian with its suite and the empress Theodora, his wife, are famous all over the world. Both the scenes as well as their artistic value have a documentary one really extraordinary. From them in fact we can deduce the splendour of the byzantine court.
Going out of the basilica we go towards the mausoleum of the roman empress Galla Placidia. It was built within the first half of the Vth cent. probably by Galla Placidia. It is a little construction but on entering you will be impressed by the magnificence of the decorations and of the mosaic scenes, especially by the unreal atmosphere in which you find yourselves.The lunette of the Good Shepherd among his flock is one of the most beautiful mosaics of Early Christian Art.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Reviews
3.6
- 53
- 42
- 30
- 20
- 12
Ratings come from 7 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.
Know before you go
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Operated by
- Cinzia Tittarelli
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
How it compares in Ravenna
- Its from-price is 47% below the median of the 158 experiences we list in Ravenna.
- Its length is typical for the group.
- By number of reviews it ranks 30 of 158.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Ravenna
Ravenna is a small Italian city near the Adriatic coast whose early Christian churches are covered in glittering Byzantine mosaics.
Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from AD 402, then of the Ostrogothic kingdom and later of Byzantine Italy, and eight of its early Christian buildings are on UNESCO's World Heritage list. The Basilica of San Vitale glows with gold mosaics, the tiny Mausoleum of Galla Placidia has a starry blue vault, and Sant'Apollinare Nuovo shows long processions of saints. Two baptisteries and the stone tomb of the Gothic king Theodoric are close by.
Top-ranked sights in Ravenna: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (Mausoleo di Galla Placidia), Basilica of San Vitale (Basilica di San Vitale).
Special offers in Ravenna
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
