Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
RAVENNA & ITS AMAZING MOSAICS
Few cities in Europe are so firmly entrenched in such a distant past. This flat lit-
tle city on the edge of the marshes that creep inland from the Adriatic was wit-
ness to the last days of the waning ancient Western Civilization. Strong
connections with the Eastern Byzantine empire kept the ideals of ancient Rome
alive a bit longer while the rest of the west fell to barbarian hordes and dissolved
into 1,000 bickering feudal fiefdoms. Ravenna is where the final emperors of the
west ended their reign, gilding churches and tombs with glittering mosaics.
Though Ravenna has been an off-the-beaten-track backwater since the 6th
century, it continues to dazzle visitors with its mosaics and other artistic vestiges
of the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Visigoths. Aside from its horde of treas-
ures, Ravenna is also a fine place to pass the time in sun-drenched piazze and
pleasant cafes.
Lay of the Land
Ravenna is 75km (47 miles) east of Bologna, with hourly trains (70-90 min.
trip), and 75km (47 miles) southeast of Ferrara, from which there are 12 trains
daily (1-1 1 4 hr. trip). Ravenna's train station is only about a 15-minute walk down
Viale Farini (which becomes Via Diaz) from the central Piazza del Popolo.
The tourist office is just off Piazza del Popolo at Via Salara, 8 ( % 0544-
35404; www.turismo.ravenna.it and www.racine.ra.it/ravennaintorno). The office
now gives visitors free bikes to use for the day. You might also want to check out
the private website www.ravennablu.it for info on the city.
Accommodations, Mostly Standard
With the notable exception of Cappello, the lodging scene in Ravenna is pretty
dismal. Few of its largely bland hotels are in the historical center. The tourist
office has a general lodging booklet listing 35 tiny (two- and three-room) B&Bs
scattered throughout the city. Double rooms go for 45 to 90—though, again,
only a handful are in the center.
€€ True to its name, the Centrale Byron (Via IV Novembre, 14; % 0544-33479
or 0544-212225; www.hotelbyron.com) couldn't be more central: right off Piazza
del Popolo. The second part of the name is a tribute to Lord Byron, who shared a
nearby palazzo with his mistress and her husband. Despite these colorful associa-
tions (and an elegant marble lobby and chandeliered bar), this hotel is no-nonsense
and serviceable. Upstairs, the narrow halls are harshly lit, but the modern-style
furnishings in the immaculate rooms, while fairly run-of-the-mill, are pleasant,
and most were replaced in 1999 or 2002. Lone travelers make out well with
unusually large and sunny single accommodations, many of which are equipped
with “French beds” (wider than a single bed but a little narrower than a double).
The handful of smaller “economica” rooms cost 80 to 92 rather than the stan-
dard
95 to
108.
- €€ There are also two perfectly serviceable, if terribly boring, joints just to
the right as you exit the train station. The Ravenna (Viale Maroncelli, 12; % 0544-
212204), with 60 doubles without private bathroom and 73 with, and the
slightly nicer Minerva (Viale Maroncelli, 1; % 0544-213711; www.minerva-hotel.
com), selling doubles with bathroom for 65 to 90.
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