Loading...Yesterday we arrived at Ravenna after a stormy day in Padova. Ravenna was bigger than I expected, and the lady at the train station ticket booth was angrier than I expected, but the town won me over.
Ravenna is in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. This was our venture out of the Veneto region where we have so far spent all our time. The Emilia Romagna region is known for its food. The Italian food that we associate with Italy (pasta, sauce, etc) comes from this region. Ravenna became the capital of the Western Roman Empire in 450 A.D. and for that reason, there are many mouments in this small town. What Ravenna is most known for is its mosaics. The mosaics we saw were incredibly beautiful, vibrant and 1,600 years old.
Walking into San Vitale for our first monument was astonishing, the detail and vibrancy of the mosaics is incredible. Next door to San Vitale is the tomb of Galla Palicidia, sister to a Roman Emperor (sort of, too long a story to get into now), but her small tomb is ornamented in the most beautiful blues and golds I’ve ever seen. I have pictures and I will share them when we return. The green and the gold in San Vitale was the most surprising. That, and the preservation after all these years. I think what I liked so much was that they were there, much as they had been when they were created. It was such a difference than looking at a pile of marble in Rome and trying to picture a building. This was actually what they created. Amazing. I’ll describe more when we’re home and the internet is free.
We also had a great meal. I had capelletti in ragu (meat sauce) and sliced chicken breast with balsamic vinegar. Eric had some sort of polenta and then sliced meat (I can’t remember the name of it). The wine in the E-R region is sangiovese, we shared a mezzo-litre and while it was great with food, the tannins were a bit much for just drinking.
