Ravenna

Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its collapse in 476, after which it served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom and then the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. It has 156,444 inhabitants as of 2025.Initially settled by the Umbri people, Ravenna came under Roman Republic control in 89 BC. Octavian built the military harbor of Classis at Ravenna, and the city remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages. The city prospered under imperial rule. In 401, Western Roman emperor Honorius moved his court from Mediolanum to Ravenna; it then served as capital of the empire for most of the 5th century.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ravenna became the capital of Odoacer until he was defeated by the Ostrogoth king Theodoric. In 540, Belisarius conquered Ravenna for the Byzantine Empire, and the city became the capital of Byzantine Italy. After a brief Lombard control, Ravenna came under the authority of the Papacy and, save for minor interruptions, remained part of the Papal States until the mid-19th century when it was incorporated into the newly unified Kingdom of Italy.

Although it is an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture, with eight buildings comprising the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna". Because of the high concentration of mosaics, the city has been associated with workshops and schools teaching mosaics, and is often given titles like the "capital of mosaics".

History

The origin of the name ''Ravenna'' is unclear. Some have speculated that "Ravenna" is related to "Rasenna" (or "Rasna"), the term that the Etruscans used for themselves, but there is no agreement on this point.

Ancient era

The origins of Ravenna are uncertain. The oldest archaeological evidence found dates the Umbri presence in Ravenna at least to the 5th century BC, where it was undisturbed until the 3rd century BC, when first contact with Roman civilization began. Its territory was settled also by the Senones, especially the southern countryside of the city (that was not part of the lagoon), the ''Ager Decimanus''. Ravenna consisted of houses built on piles on a series of small islands in a marshy lagoon – a situation similar to Venice several centuries later. The Romans ignored it during their conquest of the Po River Delta, but later accepted it into the Roman Republic as a federated town in 89 BC.

In 49 BC, it was where Julius Caesar gathered his forces before crossing the Rubicon. Later Octavian, after his battle against Mark Antony in 31 BC, founded the military harbor of Classis. This harbor, protected at first by its own walls, was an important station of the Roman Imperial Fleet. Nowadays the city is landlocked, but Ravenna remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages. During the Germanic campaigns, Thusnelda, widow of Arminius, and Marbod, King of the Marcomanni, were confined at Ravenna.

Ravenna greatly prospered under Roman rule. Emperor Trajan built a long aqueduct at the beginning of the 2nd century. During the Marcomannic Wars, Germanic settlers in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city. For this reason, Marcus Aurelius decided not only against bringing more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there. In AD 401, Emperor Honorius transferred the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Mediolanum (current Milan) to Ravenna; it subsequently served as the capital of the empire for most of the 5th century and the last de facto western emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed there in AD 476. At that time it was home to 50,000 people. The transfer was made partly for defensive purposes: Ravenna was surrounded by swamps and marshes, and was perceived to be easily defensible (although in fact the city fell to opposing forces numerous times in its history); it is also likely that the move to Ravenna was due to the city's port and good sea-borne connections to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 409, King Alaric I of the Visigoths simply bypassed Ravenna, and went on to sack Rome in 410 and to take Galla Placidia, daughter of Emperor Theodosius I, hostage.

After many vicissitudes, Galla Placidia returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III, due to the support of her nephew Theodosius II. Ravenna enjoyed a period of peace, during which time the Christian religion was favoured by the imperial court, and the city gained some of its most famous monuments, including the Orthodox Baptistry, the misnamed Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (she was not actually buried there), and San Giovanni Evangelista.

Ostrogothic Kingdom

The late 5th century saw the dissolution of Roman authority in the west, and Romulus Augustulus was deposed in 476 by the general Odoacer. Odoacer ruled as King of Italy for 13 years, but in 489 the Eastern Emperor Zeno sent the Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great to re-take the Italian peninsula. After losing the Battle of Verona, Odoacer retreated to Ravenna, where he withstood a siege of three years by Theodoric, until the taking of Rimini deprived Ravenna of supplies. Theodoric took Ravenna in 493, supposedly slew Odoacer with his own hands, and Ravenna became the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy. Theodoric, following his imperial predecessors, also built many splendid buildings in and around Ravenna, including his palace church Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, an Arian cathedral (now Santo Spirito) and Baptistery, and his own Mausoleum just outside the walls.

Both Odoacer and Theodoric and their followers were Arian Christians, but co-existed peacefully with the Latins, who were largely Catholic Orthodox. Ravenna's Orthodox bishops carried out notable building projects, of which the sole surviving one is the Cappella Arcivescovile. Theodoric allowed Roman citizens within his kingdom to be subject to Roman law and the Roman judicial system. The Goths, meanwhile, lived under their own laws and customs. In 519, when a mob had burned down the synagogues of Ravenna, Theodoric ordered the town to rebuild them at its own expense.

Theodoric died in 526 and was succeeded by his young grandson Athalaric under the authority of his daughter Amalasunta, but by 535 both were dead and Theodoric's line was represented only by Amalasuntha's daughter Matasuntha. Various Ostrogothic military leaders took the Kingdom of Italy, but none were as successful as Theodoric had been. Meanwhile, the orthodox Christian Byzantine Emperor Justinian I opposed both Ostrogoth rule and the Arian variety of Christianity. In 535 his general Belisarius invaded Italy and in 540 conquered Ravenna. After the conquest of Italy was completed in 554, Ravenna became the seat of Byzantine government in Italy.

From 540 to 600, Ravenna's bishops embarked upon a notable building program of churches in Ravenna and in and around the port city of Classe. Surviving monuments include the Basilica of San Vitale and the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, as well as the partially surviving San Michele in Africisco.

Exarchate of Ravenna

Following the conquests of Belisarius for Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, Ravenna became the seat of the Byzantine governor of Italy, the Exarch, and was known as the Exarchate of Ravenna. It was at this time that the Ravenna Cosmography was written.

Under Byzantine rule, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ravenna was temporarily granted autocephaly from the Roman Church by the emperor, in 666, but this was soon revoked. Nevertheless, the archbishop of Ravenna held the second place in Italy after the pope, and played an important role in many theological controversies during this period.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

The Lombards, under King Liutprand, occupied Ravenna in 712, but were forced to return it to the Byzantines. Shortly after Aistulf, the Lombard Duke of Friuli, was crowned King of the Lombards in 749, he pursued an aggressive policy of expansion into the Byzantine’s Exarchate of Ravenna and the territory claimed by the Pope through the Patrimony of Saint Peter.

In 751, the Byzantines surrendered the Exarchate of Ravenna to Aistulf. Aistulf then proceeded farther south and threated Rome claiming jurisdiction and demanding tribute and acknowledgement of his sovereignty. Pope Stephen II appealed to Aistulf but to no avail. In 753, Pope Stephen traveled to France to seek the help of Pepin, King of the Franks. Pepin responded favorably and ultimately conducted two campaigns to the Italian Peninsula to confront Aistulf with respect to territory that had been taken illegally.

Finally in 756, Aistulf conceded defeat, and agreed to pay reparations and surrender the territory taken five years earlier. At that time, Pepin fulfilled a promise that he had made two years prior in France and granted the pope the right to large territories that included the former Exarchate of Ravenna and the Roman duchy. This act has become known as the Donation of Pepin and provided the legal basis for the creation of the Papal States.

After Pepin’s Donation and the establishment of the Papal States, Byzantine-era administrative structures collapsed during the 9th and 10th Centuries. Papal control was indirect, with local dukes and Lombard lords exercising de facto power. During the 11th and 12th Centuries, Ravenna became a contested city between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy, with imperial appointees often clashing with papal legates.

The beginning of the 13th Century was a period of great turmoil for the city of Ravenna. At that time, conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines was intensifying. In 1198, Ravenna led a league of Romagna cities and Marches against the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto IV. Pope Innocent III was able to capitalized on the anti-imperial sentiment in Romagna to strengthen papal influence over Ravenna and other cities in the region.

In 1218, Pietro Traversari came to power in Ravenna after defeating the Ubertini and Mainardi factions during the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict. The Traversari family ruled Ravenna for 22 years until 1240 when Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II besieged Ravenna and expelled the Traversari after the Traversari aligned themselves with the pro-papal Guelphs.

Frederick’s Imperial Vicar ruled Ravenna for eight years until 1248 when Pope Innocent IV took Ravenna, and the Traversari returned to power. In 1275, the Traversari were driven from the city by Guido Novello da Polenta. The Da Polenta family established a hereditary lordship and governed with increasing independence as a papal vassal.

One of the most illustrious residents of Ravenna at this time was the exiled Florentine poet Dante. The last of the Da Polenta, Ostasio III, was ousted by the Republic of Venice in February 1441, and the city was annexed to the Venetian territories by the Treaty of Cremona.

Ravenna was then ruled by Venice until 1509, when the region was invaded in the course of the War of the League of Cambrai. At the Battle of Agnadello on 14 May, the French largely destroyed the Venetian army. Thereafter, the members of the League of Cambrai occupied Venice's mainland territories. After the Venetian withdrawal, Ravenna was again ruled by legates of the Pope as part of the Papal States. The Papal States retained control of Ravenna as the war continued, however in 1511, the Pope created a new alliance with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire against France. In the conflict that ensued, France besieged Ravenna and then decisively defeated the League's relief forces at the Battle of Ravenna (1512). After that victory, the French sacked Ravenna and occupied the city for four months before withdrawing.

In 1527, notwithstanding their alliance with Pope Clement VII, the Venetians occupied Ravenna and the Romagna, which, however, they were compelled to restore in 1529.

The city was damaged in a tremendous flood in May 1636. Over the next 300 years, a network of canals diverted nearby rivers and drained nearby swamps, thus reducing the possibility of flooding and creating a large belt of agricultural land around the city.

Modern age

In the 17th and 18th Centuries, Ravenna was part of the Papal States up until 1796, when it was annexed into the French puppet state of the Cisalpine Republic / Italian Republic, and then made part of the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic) in 1802. It was returned to the Papal States in 1814. Occupied by Piedmontese troops in 1859, Ravenna and the surrounding Romagna area became part of the new unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

During World War II, the town suffered severe damage. Fifty-two Allied bombing raids during the course of the Second World War had taken their toll, destroying some of Ravenna's noteworthy, unequalled early Christian art. Bombs intended for the railway station and its sidings had pulverised the Basilica of San Giovanni Evangelista in August 1944. On 5 November 1944 troops of 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, 5th Canadian Armoured Division and the British 27th Lancers entered and liberated Ravenna. A total of 937 Commonwealth soldiers who died in the winter of 1944–45 are buried in Ravenna War Cemetery, including 438 Canadians.

Government

Major monuments

Eight early Christian buildings of Ravenna are inscribed on the World Heritage List. These are:

* Orthodox Baptistery, also called "Baptistery of Neon" ()
* Mausoleum of Galla Placidia ()
* Arian Baptistery ()
* Archiepiscopal Chapel ()
* Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo ()
* Mausoleum of Theodoric (520)
* Basilica of San Vitale (548)
* Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe (549)

Other historic sites include:

* The church of San Giovanni Evangelista is from the 5th century, erected by Galla Placidia after she survived a storm at sea. It was restored after the World War II bombings. The bell tower contains four bells, the two majors dating back to 1208.
* The 6th-century church of the ''Spirito Santo'', which has been quite drastically altered since the 6th century. It was originally the Arian cathedral. The façade has a 16th-century portico with five arcades.

* The Basilica of San Francesco, rebuilt in the 10th–11th centuries over a precedent edifice dedicated to the Apostles and later to St. Peter. Behind the humble brick façade, it has a nave and two aisles. Fragments of mosaics from the first church are visible on the floor, which is usually covered by water after heavy rains (together with the crypt). Here the funeral ceremony of Dante Alighieri was held in 1321. The poet is buried in a tomb annexed to the church, the local authorities having resisted for centuries all demands by Florence for the return of the remains of its most famous exile.
* The Baroque church of ''Santa Maria Maggiore'' (525–532, rebuilt in 1671). It houses a picture by Luca Longhi.
* The church of San Giovanni Battista (1683), also in Baroque style, with a Middle Ages campanile.
* The basilica of Santa Maria in Porto (16th century), with a rich façade from the 18th century. It has a nave and two aisles, with a high cupola. It houses the image of famous ''Greek Madonna'', which was allegedly brought to Ravenna from Constantinople.
* The nearby Communal Gallery has various works from Romagnoli painters.
* The ''Rocca Brancaleone'' (Brancaleone Castle), built by the Venetians in 1457. Once part of the city walls, it is now a public park. It is divided into two parts: the true Castle and the Citadel, the latter having an extent of .
* The "so-called Palace of Theodoric", in fact the entrance to the former church of San Salvatore. It includes mosaics from the true palace of the Ostrogoth king.
* The church of '' Sant'Eufemia'' (18th century), gives access to the so-called Stone Carpets Domus (6th–7th century): this houses splendid mosaics from a Byzantine palace.
* The National Museum
* The Archiepiscopal Museum
* The Capanno Garibaldi, a hunting cabin on the road to known for having sheltered Giuseppe Garibaldi on the night of 6–7 August 1849

File:Basilica of San Vitale - triumphal arch mosaics.jpg, Triumphal arch mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale
File:Mausoleum of Galla Placidia ceiling mosaics.jpg, Garden of Eden mosaic in Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (5th century CE)
File:Ravenna — Arian Baptistry — Ceiling mosaic.jpg, Arian Baptistry ceiling mosaic
File:Ravenna_—_Baptistery_of_Neon_mosaic.jpg, Baptistry of Neon mosaic
File:Christus Ravenna Mosaic.jpg, 6th-century mosaic of Jesus in Byzantine style, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
File:Theodoric's Palace - Sant'Apollinare Nuovo - Ravenna 2016 (crop).jpg, Mosaic of the Palace of Theodoric in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo

Music

The city annually hosts the Ravenna Festival, one of Italy's prominent classical music gatherings. Opera performances are held at the Teatro Alighieri while concerts take place at the Palazzo Mauro de André as well as in the ancient Basilica of San Vitale and Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti, a longtime resident of the city, regularly participates in the festival, which invites orchestras and other performers from around the world.

In literature

* After his banishment from his native Florence, Dante spent most of the rest of his life in Ravenna, and he mentions the city in Canto V of his '' Inferno''.
* Also in the 16th century, Nostradamus provides four prophecies:
** "The Magnavacca (canal) at Ravenna in great trouble, Canals by fifteen shut up at Fornase", in reference to fifteen French saboteurs.
** As the place of a battle extending to Perugia and a sacred escape in its aftermath, leaving rotting horses left to eat.
** In relation to the snatching of a lady "near Ravenna" and then the legate of Lisbon seizing 70 souls at sea.
** Ravenna is one of three-similarly named contenders for the birth of the third and final Antichrist who enslaves Slovenia (see Ravne na Koroškem).
* Ravenna is the setting for '' The Witch'', a play written in the 1610s by Thomas Middleton.
* Lord Byron lived in Ravenna between 1819 and 1821, led by the love for a local aristocratic and married young woman, Teresa Guiccioli. Here he continued ''Don Juan'' and wrote ''Ravenna Diary'', ''My Dictionary'' and ''Recollections''.
* Ravenna is the location where Lionel, the protagonist of Mary Shelley's post-apocalyptic novel '' The Last Man'', comes ashore after losing his companions to a howling storm in the Aegean Sea.
* Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) wrote a poem ''Ravenna'' in 1878.
* Symbolist, lyrical poet Alexander Blok (1880–1921) wrote a poem entitled ''Ravenna'' (May–June 1909) inspired by his Italian journey (spring 1909).
* During his travels, German poet and philosopher Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) came across Ravenna and was inspired to write two poems of the city. They are entitled ''Ravenna (1)'' and ''Ravenna (2)''.
* T. S. Eliot's (1888–1965) poem "Lune de Miel" (written in French) describes a honeymooning couple from Indiana sleeping not far from the ancient Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe (just outside Ravenna), famous for the carved capitals of its columns, which depict acanthus leaves buffeted by the wind, unlike the leaves in repose on similar columns elsewhere.
* J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973) may have based his city of Minas Tirith at least in part on Ravenna.

In film

Michelangelo Antonioni filmed his 1964 movie ''Red Desert'' (''Deserto Rosso'') within the industrialised areas of the Pialassa valley.

Transport

Ravenna has an important commercial and tourist port.

Ravenna railway station has direct Trenitalia service to Bologna, Ferrara, Lecce, Milan, Parma, Rimini, and Verona.

Ravenna Airport is located in Ravenna. The nearest commercial airports are those of Forlì, Rimini and Bologna.

Freeways crossing Ravenna include: A14-bis from the hub of Bologna; on the north–south axis of EU routes E45 (from Rome) and E55 (SS-309 "Romea" from Venice); and on the regional Ferrara-Rimini axis of SS-16 (partially called "Adriatica").

Amusement parks

* Mirabilandia
* Safari Ravenna

Twin towns – sister cities

Ravenna is twinned with:
* Chichester, United Kingdom, since 1996
* Speyer, Germany, since 1989
* Chartres, France, since 1957

Sports

The traditional football club of the city is Ravenna F.C. Currently it plays in the fourth tier of Italian football, Serie D.

A.P.D. Ribelle 1927 is the football club of Castiglione di Ravenna, a town to the south of Ravenna.

The beaches of Ravenna hosted the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, in September 2011.

People

*Valentinian III (419–455), Roman Emperor
* Matteo Plazzi, Italian sailor
* Patrizio Ravennate (active in the late 14th Century), historian and chronicler
* Giacomo Anziani (1681–1723), Italian architect, painter, and engraver
*Laura Pausini (born 1974), Italian pop singer-songwriter, record producer and television personality
*Raul Gardini (1933–1993), Italian businessman
* Franco Manzecchi (1931–1979), Jazz drummer
* Andrea Montanari (born 1965), Italian sprinter
*Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713), Baroque violinist and composer
* Luigi Legnani (1790–1877), guitarist and luthier
* Tullio Bassi (born 1937), Italian violin maker
*Peter Damian ( – 1072 or 1073), Catholic Saint and Cardinal
* Francesco Ingoli (1578–1649), Theatine scientist, lawyer, and disputer of Galileo
* Francesca da Rimini (1255 – ), historical person
* Guido I da Polenta (died 1310), lord of Ravenna
* Francesco Baracca (1888–1918), Italy's top fighter ace of World War I
* Federico Caricasulo (born 1996), motorcycle road racer
* Marco Melandri (born 1982), motorcycle road racer
* Davide Tardozzi (born 1959), Superbike racer and team manager
* Ivano Marescotti (1946–2023), actor
*Amadeus (presenter) (born 1962), presenter
* Romolo Gessi (1831–1881), explorer
*Romuald (), abbot, founder of the Camaldolese order
* Marco Dente (1493–1527), engraver
* Paolo Roversi (born 1947), fashion photographer
* Camillo Spreti (1743–1830), marquis and writer
* Angelo Mariani (conductor) (1821–1873), conductor
*Giuseppe Vitali (1875–1932), mathematician
*Evangelista Torricelli (1606–1647), physicist and mathematician
* Federico Marchetti (businessman) (born 1969), founder of YOOX
* Gianluca Costantini (born 1971), artist
* Luigi Legnani (1790–1877), musician and composer
* Luigi Rossini (1790–1857), artist
* Alex Majoli (born 1971), photographer
* Gianluca de Lorenzi (born 1972), racing driver and team owner
* Fabio Fabiani (born 1974), racing driver
* Eugenio Pisani (born 1991), racing driver

Climate

See also

References

Sources

* Cameron, Averil. "Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe". ''History Today'' (September 2020) pp 94–97.
* Janet Nelson, Judith Herrin, ''Ravenna: its role in earlier medieval change and exchange'', London, Institute of Historical Research, 2016,

External links

Ravenna - Catholic encyclopedia


Tourism and culture
Official website
*
Ravenna, A Study
' (1913) by Edward Hutton, from Project Gutenberg

Ravenna's early history and its monuments - Catholic Encyclopedia

{{Subject bar, commons=y, voy=y, wikt=y, s=y

Capitals of former nations
Castles in Italy
Cities and towns in Emilia-Romagna
Former islands of Italy
Mediterranean port cities and towns in Italy
Papal States
Pre-Roman cities in Italy
Roman harbors in Italy
Roman sites of Emilia-Romagna
World Heritage Sites in Italy