Guidebook for Ravenna
Food Scene
International and local cuisine in the heart of Ravenna.
Perfect for a dinner by candlelight.
11 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Osteria Del Tempo Perso
12 Via GambaInternational and local cuisine in the heart of Ravenna.
Perfect for a dinner by candlelight.
Azuki Sushi
3 Via della CarmenA very good takeaway Japanese cuisine in Ravenna.
Fast service, excellent ingredients.
One of the best seafood restaurants in the center of Ravenna.
7 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
L'Acciuga Osteria
74 Viale Francesco BaraccaOne of the best seafood restaurants in the center of Ravenna.
Ristorante Bella Venezia
16 Via IV NovembreTraditional cuisine of Emilia-Romagna in the heart of Ravenna.
Restaurant, osteria, pizzeria, pub and cinema in the center of Ravenna.
6 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Mariani Lifestyle
19 Via Ponte MarinoRestaurant, osteria, pizzeria, pub and cinema in the center of Ravenna.
I Furfanti
1 Via Paolo CostaTraditional cuisine and cocktails in the center of Ravenna.
Drinks & Nightlife
Fine dining restaurant with street bar for buffet appetizers and cocktails in the center of Marina di Ravenna.
I Fanti
179 Viale delle NazioniFine dining restaurant with street bar for buffet appetizers and cocktails in the center of Marina di Ravenna.
Sightseeing
The Basilica of San Vitale is one of the most important monuments of Early Christian art in Italy, especially for the splendour of its mosaics. Founded by Julianus Argentarius and commissioned by Bishop Ecclesius, the octagonal church was consecrated by Archbishop Maximian in 548.
The influence of oriental art, a typical feature of Ravenna buildings, plays a dominant role both for the architecture of the basilica, where elements of Eastern art merge with Western tradition, and for its mosaic decoration, that expresses the ideology and religious beliefs of the Justinian era. The typical division into nave and two aisles is replaced here by a central, octagonal plan, topped by a cupola that rests on eight pilasters and arches. The cupola and the niches were frescoed in 1780 by Bolognese painters Barozzi and Gandolfi and Guarana from Veneto.
On entering the Basilica of San Vitale, the eyes are captured by the elevation and width of spaces, by the stunning mosaic decorations of the apse and by the baroque frescoes of the cupola. It is probably due to this upward thrust that a small and lesser-known treasure often goes unnoticed: a labyrinth is represented on the floor of the presbytery, right in front of the altar. Small arrows start at the centre of the labyrinth and lead towards the centre of the basilica, going through a winding path. In the early years of Christianity, mazes were often the symbol of sin and of a possible purification. Finding the way out of the maze thus represented an act of rebirth. Once followed the path of the labyrinth, the eyes may contemplate the altar of San Vitale and some of the most beautiful mosaics of Christendom.
Opening hours:
Until 25th March: every day 9am - 5.30pm
From 26th March: every day 9am - 7pm
Last admittance 15 minutes before closing time.
Closing days: December 25th.
93 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Basílica de San Vital
17 Via San VitaleThe Basilica of San Vitale is one of the most important monuments of Early Christian art in Italy, especially for the splendour of its mosaics. Founded by Julianus Argentarius and commissioned by Bishop Ecclesius, the octagonal church was consecrated by Archbishop Maximian in 548.
The influence of oriental art, a typical feature of Ravenna buildings, plays a dominant role both for the architecture of the basilica, where elements of Eastern art merge with Western tradition, and for its mosaic decoration, that expresses the ideology and religious beliefs of the Justinian era. The typical division into nave and two aisles is replaced here by a central, octagonal plan, topped by a cupola that rests on eight pilasters and arches. The cupola and the niches were frescoed in 1780 by Bolognese painters Barozzi and Gandolfi and Guarana from Veneto.
On entering the Basilica of San Vitale, the eyes are captured by the elevation and width of spaces, by the stunning mosaic decorations of the apse and by the baroque frescoes of the cupola. It is probably due to this upward thrust that a small and lesser-known treasure often goes unnoticed: a labyrinth is represented on the floor of the presbytery, right in front of the altar. Small arrows start at the centre of the labyrinth and lead towards the centre of the basilica, going through a winding path. In the early years of Christianity, mazes were often the symbol of sin and of a possible purification. Finding the way out of the maze thus represented an act of rebirth. Once followed the path of the labyrinth, the eyes may contemplate the altar of San Vitale and some of the most beautiful mosaics of Christendom.
Opening hours:
Until 25th March: every day 9am - 5.30pm
From 26th March: every day 9am - 7pm
Last admittance 15 minutes before closing time.
Closing days: December 25th.
Galla Placidia (386-452), sister of the Roman Emperor Honorius who had transferred the Capital of the Western Empire from Milan to Ravenna in 402 AD, built this little Mausoleum with a Greek cross plan around 425-450 as her own resting place. However, the mausoleum was never used for that purpose, because the empress died and was buried in Rome in 450.
Now a separate building, the mausoleum was once connected to the south side of the narthex of the close Church of Santa Croce, erected by Galla Placidia between 475 and 500.
The outside of the building is very sober compared to the magnificence of the inside, decorated with mosaics made even brighter by the golden light filtering through the alabaster windows. The lower surfaces of the interior are covered with marble slabs, while the upper part of the building – including the walls of the vault, the lunettes and the cupola – is entirely decorated with mosaics. The themes represented in the mosaic decoration show traces of the influence of both Hellenic-Roman and Christian tradition and aim at representing the victory of eternal life over death from different perspectives.
The atmosphere of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is undoubtedly magical. The countless stars of the cupola have deeply stirred the imagination of many visitors of Ravenna, for instance Cole Porter who, during his honeymoon in the city, was so impressed by the starry sky of the small mausoleum that he wrote his famous song Night and Day.
Opening hours:
Until 25th March: every day 9am - 5.30pm
From 26th March: every day 9am - 7pm
Last admittance 15 minutes before closing time
Closing days: December 25th.
60 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Mausoleo de Galla Placidia
17 Via San VitaleGalla Placidia (386-452), sister of the Roman Emperor Honorius who had transferred the Capital of the Western Empire from Milan to Ravenna in 402 AD, built this little Mausoleum with a Greek cross plan around 425-450 as her own resting place. However, the mausoleum was never used for that purpose, because the empress died and was buried in Rome in 450.
Now a separate building, the mausoleum was once connected to the south side of the narthex of the close Church of Santa Croce, erected by Galla Placidia between 475 and 500.
The outside of the building is very sober compared to the magnificence of the inside, decorated with mosaics made even brighter by the golden light filtering through the alabaster windows. The lower surfaces of the interior are covered with marble slabs, while the upper part of the building – including the walls of the vault, the lunettes and the cupola – is entirely decorated with mosaics. The themes represented in the mosaic decoration show traces of the influence of both Hellenic-Roman and Christian tradition and aim at representing the victory of eternal life over death from different perspectives.
The atmosphere of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is undoubtedly magical. The countless stars of the cupola have deeply stirred the imagination of many visitors of Ravenna, for instance Cole Porter who, during his honeymoon in the city, was so impressed by the starry sky of the small mausoleum that he wrote his famous song Night and Day.
Opening hours:
Until 25th March: every day 9am - 5.30pm
From 26th March: every day 9am - 7pm
Last admittance 15 minutes before closing time
Closing days: December 25th.
Parks & Nature
Pialassa della Baiona lies 10 km north of Ravenna and stretches over 1100 hectares of wetlands connected to the Adriatic Sea only by the Candiano stream and by the entrance of the harbour of Porto Corsini.
The term "Pialassa" originates from the dynamic system typical of this kind of lagoons, that receive (“Piglia”) and return (“lascia”) seawater depending on the tidal levels.
The Pialassa consists of open pools, artificial canals and sandbanks (the so-called barene). The pools are covered with halophilic plants and salt meadows, the most interesting of which is Prato Barenicolo, dedicated to the Romagna naturalist Pietro Zangheri. This grassland is populated by plants (such as salicornia and limonium) and animals typical of low brackish waters (avocets, black-winged stilts, waders, gulls). At high tide, it is submerged by the salt waters of Pialassa.
The banks of the entire area are rich in vegetation, that includes various types of plants like limonium, inula and New York aster, as well as grasses and shrubs like tamarisk, blackthorn, bramble and clematis. Open waters are covered with green macroalgae, especially sea lettuces. The Pialassa is also a very important feeding place for some nesting bird species (pygmy cormorant, glossy ibis, whiskered tern) and a stopover site for migratory birds (ducks, Charadriiformes). Among the bird colonies, Kentish plovers, avocets and black-winged stilts, as well as egrets and gulls.
Numerous traditional fishing huts (the so-called bilancioni or padelloni) stand along the the borders of the basins.
You may visit the lagoon on foot, by bycicle or by a small boat that will let you have the most wonderful views of the area.
How to get there:
Pialassa della Baiona is located between Statale Romea 309 and Via Baiona in the direction of Porto Corsini. It can be accessed from the car park of Cà Vecia, where all routes running through San Vitale Pinewood start, or else from Via delle Valli (Prato Barenicolo) and from the villages of Porto Corsini and Marina Romea. Along Via Baiona, do not miss Capanno Garibaldi (Garibaldi's Hut).
Piazzale della Pialassa
Piazzale della PialassaPialassa della Baiona lies 10 km north of Ravenna and stretches over 1100 hectares of wetlands connected to the Adriatic Sea only by the Candiano stream and by the entrance of the harbour of Porto Corsini.
The term "Pialassa" originates from the dynamic system typical of this kind of lagoons, that receive (“Piglia”) and return (“lascia”) seawater depending on the tidal levels.
The Pialassa consists of open pools, artificial canals and sandbanks (the so-called barene). The pools are covered with halophilic plants and salt meadows, the most interesting of which is Prato Barenicolo, dedicated to the Romagna naturalist Pietro Zangheri. This grassland is populated by plants (such as salicornia and limonium) and animals typical of low brackish waters (avocets, black-winged stilts, waders, gulls). At high tide, it is submerged by the salt waters of Pialassa.
The banks of the entire area are rich in vegetation, that includes various types of plants like limonium, inula and New York aster, as well as grasses and shrubs like tamarisk, blackthorn, bramble and clematis. Open waters are covered with green macroalgae, especially sea lettuces. The Pialassa is also a very important feeding place for some nesting bird species (pygmy cormorant, glossy ibis, whiskered tern) and a stopover site for migratory birds (ducks, Charadriiformes). Among the bird colonies, Kentish plovers, avocets and black-winged stilts, as well as egrets and gulls.
Numerous traditional fishing huts (the so-called bilancioni or padelloni) stand along the the borders of the basins.
You may visit the lagoon on foot, by bycicle or by a small boat that will let you have the most wonderful views of the area.
How to get there:
Pialassa della Baiona is located between Statale Romea 309 and Via Baiona in the direction of Porto Corsini. It can be accessed from the car park of Cà Vecia, where all routes running through San Vitale Pinewood start, or else from Via delle Valli (Prato Barenicolo) and from the villages of Porto Corsini and Marina Romea. Along Via Baiona, do not miss Capanno Garibaldi (Garibaldi's Hut).
Pineta di Classe
Amazing extended pinewood.
Arts & Culture
The first stone of Dante Alighieri Theatre was laid in September 1840, when the city decided to build a new structure rather than restoring the old “Comunicativo” theatre. The new building was then erected in a marginal, decaying, though central area of Ravenna: the so-called Piazzetta degli Svizzeri (now Piazza Garibaldi).
The construction of the theatre was entrusted by the Deputation to the Venetian brothers Tommaso and Giambattista Meduna (respectively engineer and architect), previously involved in the second restoration of the Fenice Theatre in Venice.
During the inauguration night on 15th May 1852, the new theatre Alighieri was recognized as one of the best equipped theatres in Italy.
Opening hours:
Monday - Saturday: 10am - 1pm
Thursday: 4pm - 6pm
How to get there:
The theatre is located in the controlled traffic zone, close to a pay and display car park (Largo Firenze) and to the University. Bus stop in front of the building.
21 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Teatro Comunale Alighieri, Ravenna
2 Via Angelo MarianiThe first stone of Dante Alighieri Theatre was laid in September 1840, when the city decided to build a new structure rather than restoring the old “Comunicativo” theatre. The new building was then erected in a marginal, decaying, though central area of Ravenna: the so-called Piazzetta degli Svizzeri (now Piazza Garibaldi).
The construction of the theatre was entrusted by the Deputation to the Venetian brothers Tommaso and Giambattista Meduna (respectively engineer and architect), previously involved in the second restoration of the Fenice Theatre in Venice.
During the inauguration night on 15th May 1852, the new theatre Alighieri was recognized as one of the best equipped theatres in Italy.
Opening hours:
Monday - Saturday: 10am - 1pm
Thursday: 4pm - 6pm
How to get there:
The theatre is located in the controlled traffic zone, close to a pay and display car park (Largo Firenze) and to the University. Bus stop in front of the building.
Entertainment & Activities
Crossfit Ravenna ASD
21 Via Luigi GalvaniBest CrossFit Box in Italy.
Head Coach Matteo Fuzzi, Tel. +39 333 1047074.
The young people and the families with children can reach the amazing Mirabilandia Park in 20 minutes by car or bus.
43 Recomendado por los habitantes de la zona
Mirabilandia Ingresso station
The young people and the families with children can reach the amazing Mirabilandia Park in 20 minutes by car or bus.