A Trip to Ravenna Posted by Geoff on Jun 13, 2014 in Uncategorized
“This spring” we said, “we’ll go ‘somewhere’ … We’re always promising ourselves that we’ll go ‘somewhere’. When it’s not too cold … too rainy … too hot. When we can afford it. When we can find someone to look after the cats. Well, let’s just go … ‘somewhere’.
Okay, Ravenna, how about Ravenna? We haven’t been there for years … and Ravenna’s not far from San Marino is it? Yes, let’s go to Ravenna!
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| Monday a.m. … we leave Pontremoli and head north towards Parma. ‘Rispettare I Limiti Di Velocità’ (Respect the Speed Limits’), reads the sign. Good advice! |
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| We head up towards the Passo della Cisa on the A15. |
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| The A15 towards Parma cuts through the Appennino Tosco Emiliano mountains |
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| … and heads down towards La Pianura Padana, the big plain in the north of Italy. |
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| The landscape on the northern side of the Appennino becomes much more barren as it flattens out towards the plain, quite a contrast from the green tree covered slopes of Lunigiana. |
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| The Barilla pasta factory near Parma is the first notable landmark |
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| The A1 takes us east across the plain, which is very … plain … |
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| … and quickly gets very boring. |
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| A horrible crash with a mangled lorry has completely blocked the autostrada heading West. We feel very lucky to be heading East, but sorry for the kilometres of stationary travellers who’ve temporarily abandoned their baking cars and are standing chatting along the edge of the motorway. The temperature is in the mid 30’s (Celsius) |
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| Leaving the A1. We approach the casello (toll booths). 21 euros and 40 cents for about 2 hours of motorway. The autostrade in Italy are very expensive! |
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| Just outside Ravenna we pass the wonderfully named town of Bagnacavallo (WetTheHorse).
We arrive in Ravenna and book in at the Ostello per la Gioventù (youth hostel), Ostello Dante. For only 48 euros a night we have our own double room with shower, including breakfast, and use of all facilities. The Warden, Micaela is very friendly and helpful, she has created a wonderful ‘relax’ room in the hostel, which we make good use of. We spend the afternoon mooching around Ravenna and return to the hostel hot, tired and ready for a good night’s kip … … 2:30 a.m. woken up by a group of selfish French twenty-something who seem to think they are the only occupants of the hostel … sono incazzato nero! 7:00 a.m. I get up nice and early to return the favour by banging on their door until they groaningly open it … BUONGIORNO! I shout at them … did you sleep well? … time to get up! Sì, sono cattivo io ,-) |
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| We make the most of an early start and set off south for the independent Republic of San Marino while it’s still relatively fresh. After an hour’s drive San Marino rears up before us out of the plain perched atop its lofty natural fortification. |
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| A convenient, but overpriced cable car takes us up from the (expensive) car park to the old hilltop town. |
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| San Marino … tourists and tacky gift shops. Here I managed the extraordinary feat of taking a photo with neither of them in it! |
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| Just one of the countless horrid knick knack kiosks that filled every little corner of the potentially beautiful medieval town of S. Marino … well, you get the idea. |
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| The views away from the town are stunning! Looking east with the Mare Adriatico (Adriatic Sea) and Rimini in the background |
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| … and looking west towards the foothills of the Appennino |
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| A final glimpse of S. Marino before we set off back to Ravenna. If you can switch off from the horrible sell out to tourism (something that I fail at badly) then it’s really quite charming. |
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| Back in Ravenna: After a good night’s sleep at Ostello Dante (yes, the French lads had called it quits and moved out after Micaela the warden gave them an earful), we make another early start and drive out to Sant’Apollinare in Classe. S. Appolinare is a beautiful basilica with Byzantine mosaics dating from around 500 A.D. |
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| Outside the basilica Serena befriends a lonely buffalo … |
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| … then sends it off to join its friends. |
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| The interior … bellissimo! |
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| … a detail of the mosaic … |
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| … and another one. Even after 1,500 years the colours look absolutely fresh and stunning. Unlike frescos, mosaics don’t fade. |
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| The simple polished marble columns of the interior. |
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| Back to Ravenna again, we park the car in a shady place and walk into the town center. Our first stop is the Basilica di San Giovanni Evangelista, built in the 5th Century AD it survived until the end of WWII when an allied bombing raid on the nearby railway station completely flattened it. Thankfully it was painstakingly rebuilt after the war. |
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| An information board in the basilica with a picture of the wartime damage. |
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| However, every cloud has a silver lining, and during the restoration much of the original floor of the basilica, which had been covered up for centuries, was unearthed. Sections of this simple but beautiful mosaic flooring are on display inside the basilica. |
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| Surely one of the ‘must do’s’ when visiting in Ravenna is Il Mausoleo di Galla Placidia. Watch out for an upcoming blog on the subject. |
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| Amazing 5th Century mosaics inside Il Mausoleo di Galla Placidia. It was pretty dark inside, and not being able to use flash this is the only half decent photo I managed to take. The whole of the interior is covered in mosaics like this … fantastic! |
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| The mausoleum is tucked away behind the architecturally stunning 6th Century Basilica di San Vitale. This view shows the later 18th Century baroque frescoes (I have a pet hate for Baroque but this isn’t too offensive!) |
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| The incredible Byzantine mosaics from around 547 A.D. Note that Christ (bottom centre) is depicted without a beard. The bearded version of Christ only became the standard form at a later date. |
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| The tomb of Dante Alighieri can also be found in Ravenna. Next to his tomb is a small tumulus where Dante’s remains were kept safe from the final ravages of WWII. The inscription reads: UNDER THIS TUMULUS THE BONES OF DANTE RESTED SAFELY FROM 23 MARCH 1944 TO 19 DECEMBER 1945. |
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| Our visit to Ravenna at an end, we set off for home across the hot desolate plain. I while away the time by trying to find interesting things to photograph. This is the amazing Stazione di Reggio Emilia AV, a massive sculptural railway station for the high speed trains that run parallel to the A1. Strangely it appears to be in the middle of nowhere … note to self … must investigate. |
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| A rather expensive load! A transporter filled with Maseratis, each with its own tailored dust cover heads towards Reggio Emilia. |
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| Yippee, we’re nearly home! The final stretch of motorway to Pontremoli with a welcoming view of ‘our’ mountains … yes, we live over there. It’s a relief to leave the burning plain behind us and return to the green freshness of Lunigiana.
I love going away, but I love coming home even more! My house, my bed, my cup of tea … now, where are those pussy cats? It’s time for lots of stroking and purring. |
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Comments:
June:
Mille grazie per un viaggio meraviglioso a Ravenna e San Marino. Le vostre foto sono ottime. JS
Laurel:
Ravenna has been on my ever-growing list of places to see. Now we really must go there when it cools down! Sorry to hear San Marino is so tacky…. But we must go there too. We always miss our kitties too! Wish they were better travelers so we could take them along!
Geoff:
@Laurel Ciao Laurel, S.Marino is worth visiting if you’re in the area. I do have a very low tolerance for tourists, so you might not find it too bad, but there are so many more beautiful places that haven’t completely sold out. Bear in mind that there are several hundred of those kiosks that you see in my photo, all selling the same mass produced made in China Junk. Personally, I blame the tourists for buying it.
My main reason for visiting S. Marino, which I didn’t actually mention in the blog, is that I run an Airsoft club called Alpha Tactical Airsoft Pontremoli, and S. Marino is famous for its armerie Softair (Airsoft armouries). They are mostly online shops with very good prices because S. Marino is a little tax haven, however they also have shops open to the public … so I was scouting round softair (airsoft) shops looking for bits and pieces for myself and other club members.
Grazie per il tuo commento, alla prossima, Geoff
Andrej:
Ciao Geoff!
I mosaici sono davvero meravigliosi. E qui in Kiev, dove abito, abbiamo una basilica di Santa Sofia con i piu’ grindi mosaici antichi (perche’ quelli di Ravenna venivano restaurati e qui solo si aggiungevano gli affreschi dove cadevano i mosaici, ma questi sono del X secolo).
Saluti da Andrej
Mamma:
Enjoyed your blog and shall eagerly await the next one on mosaics! I will give S.Marino a miss; but Ravenna looks fabulous.
‘Bye, X
Jim and Liz:
Thanks for rekindling pleasant memories of our own short stay in Ravenna (June 7 and 8) this year. We’d been in Italy for a month by then, most of the time in Firenze, and we needed a break from the 35+ degree heat. Although our stay in Ravenna was equally torrid, we did manage to snag an air conditioned hotel room which made all the difference. The city is a charm – its people friendly and the mood of the place wonderfully relaxing.
Geoff:
@Jim and Liz Salve Jim e Liz e benvenuti nel nostro blog!
I’m glad you enjoyed Ravenna. I think that you were unfortunate enough to experience the hottest temperatures that we’ve had so far this summer. At the moment the weather is extraordinarily cool for the time of year … not cold, but definitely not typical July temperatures.
The good thing about this is that you can do far more sightseeing without scuttling from one cool church to another … yes, we all use churches as handy air conditioned rest places. Supermarkets are useful as well, especially if you stand next to the dairy products cooler! 😉
Saluti da Geoff