Ravenna, like any other Italian towns, has its own uniqueness. Its fascination lies in its splendid history and fantastic buildings. Ravenna once served as the seat of the Western Roman Empire and the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the exarchate of Ravena
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Ravenna is a living book for italian history, most of its historic buildings here were built around 5th century and each of them has some stories about history. If you love Roman history, you should visit Ravenna.
Ravenna is plain and modest. Though Its past does not seem to be less glorious than any other great italian cities, such as Rome, Venice, Florence, it does not like Rome and Florence that do catch your eyes more easily, maybe because most of the historic buildings in Ravenna were made of bricks, while those in Rome and Florence used expensive marbles. Nobody can deny that both Venice and Ravenna are considered as the two italian jewels in the Adriatic Sea, but the splendor of Ravenna has been overshadowed by Venice. The reason is that Ravenna, which is also used to be surrounded by swamp, becomes an inland city today, you can only see water channels connected to the sea. Without water and sea, Ravenna lose some lustre. It becomes some a humble place, you really need to make some efforts to find its own beauty. In China, we have a saying that still water runs deep, i found the same philophy here. Ravenna is really Cinderella with whom you can not fall in love at the first sight, but if you take some time, you will find her only beauty.
Ravenna is the capital of mosaics, it is those amazing mosaics dating back to 5th century that add Ravenna successfully into Italy's list of 43 UNESCO world heritage sites. All the history and beauty of this small city are about mosaics.
Ravenna is a snapshot for culture integration.If you know the different schools of architure well enough, you will feel very confused and difficult to tell what style the buildings are, you can see both Roman elements and Byzantine art from just one same building.
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| Favourite spots: |
1. Basilica of S. Vitale
2. Basilica of Apollinare Nuovo
3.Mausoleo of Galla Placidia
4. Bapistry of Neon
5. Ariani Bapistry
6.Mausoleo of Theodoric
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| What's really great: |
San John Evangestisa
San Spirito
S. Maria in Porto
Piazza del Popolo
Dante Tomb
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if you like to see more sights, please see my album for Ravenna
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I did not stay in the town, i lived in another nice town, Rimini, one hour by train.
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i only stayed during the daytime, no advice avaible about the nightlife. if you can, Piazza del Popolo must have some fun there.
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Basilica Apollinare Nuovo
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the town is not so big, and almost all the historic places are around piazza del popolo. Anyway, i like the small streets and friendly atmosphere.
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floor of Basilica di S. Vitale
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I spent one whole day in Ravenna. Even this, i felt time was so short that i did not have time to have lunch, dinner, whatever. no recommendations on the restaurants.
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Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
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most of the places are allowed to use flash when you take cameras, but in some places it is not allowed. Make sure that you camera has enough battery, because flash consumes and use up energy very quickly. it happened to me that i need to go back to Rimini lunch time to recharge the battery.
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Published on Thursday October 16th, 2008
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Thu, Nov 06 2008 - 04:35 AM
 by rangutan
| An interesting new destination written in a style I use too, very brief. |
Wed, Oct 22 2008 - 07:43 AM
by marianne
| Lots of history and beautiful photos |
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5 votes
