The sister of the Emperor Honorious (392-450), Galla Placidia held court in Ravenna with the most Roman ostentation... Her mausoleum is an impressive 5C construction in the form of a Latin cross, its architectural harmony evident in the deep blue o..

Built by Theodoric between 493 and 526, this basilica has a nave and two aisles separated by Corinthian columns. It is decorated with superb mosaics on a golden background: scenes from the Life of Christ, the saints and the prophets are represented a..

Consecrated in 547 by Archbishop Maximian, this architectural masterpiece bears witness to the splendid opulence and use of light characteristic of late Antiquity. The richness of its interior decoration is quite breathtaking: marble, beautifully scu..

This basilica is not far from the sea and was begun in 534, consecrated in 549 and completed in the 11C by a cylindrical campanile. The three majestic spaces are separated by 26 arcades that support marble columns. In the collaterals are superb primi..

There is more to find of Ravenna's mosaics in this 6C baptistry that owes its name to the Bishop Neoni. These mosaics with vivid and contrasting colours depict the Baptism of Christ accompanied by a retinue of apostles.

Successor to Odoacer, the Goth king Theodoric (493-526) ruled over Ravenna and contributed to the embellishment of the city. His mausoleum, built in 520, is a curious building, built from stones of enormous size and crowned with an astonishing mono..

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the author of the Divine Comedy and the founder of the Italian language, died in exile at Ravenna. His tomb is crowned with a classical monument built in the 18C.

In this Romanesque church (built, like its campanile in the 10C) there are attractive columns in Greek marble, a main altar from the 5C and a crypt dating from the 9C and 10C.

The Arians were the followers of an Alexandrian priest, Arius, who denied the divinity of Christ, a theory widely condemned by the successive councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381). This did not prevent the Goths from following it for seve..

The museum has a small lapidary collection and the pulpit of Archbishop Maximian, a masterpiece of ivory sculpture (6C) and remarkable mosaics in St Andrew's chapel .

Adjoining the baptistry, the 18C Cathedral of Ravenna has preserved its cylindrical campanile from the 10C and 11C and has an ambo from the 6C decorated with symbolic animals.

Young ladies in search of a husband should not hesitate to embrace the recumbent figure of the Knight Guidarello Guidarelli (Tullio Lombrado, 1526): of course you will not wake up the attractive sleeping knight but the omens are clear; you will fin..

The museum is set up an old Benedictine monastery alongside the basilica of San Vitale and illustrates the late Roman age and the paleo-Christian era; ivories, icons (Cretan-Venetian school) and mosaics, all evidence of the originality of Ravenna, th..