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Ravenna was coveted by invading forces, so much so that the Byzantines, arriving after the Goths, gave it what are generally considered to be the finest examples of their art existing anywhere in the world, still remarkably intact despite bombs and 20th-century industrial ravishment. Modern Ravenna is, however, something of a museum-city, whose treasure may only reach mosaic fiends.
Sights
The mosaics are scattered in various locations around town, in the Museo Arcivescovile and Battistero on piazza Arcivescovile (both open daily from 0900-1900, entry €1.80) and in the Basilica di Sant'Apollinaire Nuovo on via di Roma. By far the most famous and richest concentration of mosaics, however, is to be found in the area around the Basilica di San Vitale (via Fiandrini, T 054-434266, Jun-Oct 0900-1900), itself a wonder of geometric Byzantine design, built in 548 and the model for the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. Inside the basilica and across the lawn in the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia is a remarkable mind bogglingly untricate tapestry of mosaics.
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