Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
€€
The high-shuttered windows, timbered ceiling, and ocher-colored walls
render
Cantina Cappello
(Via IV Novembre, 41;
%
0544-219876; Tues-Sun
lunch and dinner, Sun lunch only)
as chic and inviting as the hotel above. Add
friendly service, excellent grub, garden courtyard seating at lunch, and a handy
location, just off Piazza del Popolo, and this becomes my first choice for a meal
in Ravenna. You can order just about any wine from Emilia-Romagna by the glass
(from
5
6). Accompany it with a
tavolozza
(mixed platter
of cheeses,
crostini,
salami, and salad) or choose from the daily pasta (
€
10) or
seafood (
€
1.50) or carafe (from
€
18) specials.
€€€
The plain but elegant
La Gardela
(Via Ponte Marino, 3;
%
0544-217147;
closed Thurs)
is a good place to satisfy your appetite after wandering through the
food stalls of the Mercato Coperto across the street—if you don't mind glacially
slow (albeit friendly) service. Daily specials often include seafood from the nearby
Adriatic, and there's a killer “piccolo menu” that includes a pasta (tortelli stuffed
with pumpkin and spinach in a butter and sage sauce), meat (grilled shish kabob
with rosemary potatoes), mineral water, glass of wine, and coffee, all for
€
15.
Why You're Here: The Top Sights & Attractions
Ravenna's most dazzling display of mosaics adorns the dome of the 6th-century
octagonal and exotically Byzantine
Basilica di San Vitale
€
17-
€
55
(Via San Vitale,
17; for all details, see “Ravenna's Cumulative Ticket & Open Hours,” below)
com-
missioned by Emperor Justinian. The emperor and his court appear in splendidly
detailed mosaics of deep greens and golds on one side of the church. Theodora,
his empress (a courtesan born into the circus whose ambition, intelligence, and
beauty brought her to these lofty heights), and her ladies-in-waiting appear on the
other; and above and between them looms Christ, clean-shaven in this early
representation.
Perhaps the most striking of Ravenna's monuments lies on a lawn behind the
Basilica: the small and simple
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
55
, lit only by small
alabaster windows. This early Christian was the sister of Honorius, last emperor
of Rome and wife of Ataulf, king of the Visigoths. Upon his death, she became
regent to her 6-year-old son, Valentinian III—meaning she was, in effect, ruler of
the Western world. The three sarcophagi beneath a canopy of blue-and-gold
mosaics—a firmament of deep blue lit by hundreds of bright gold stars—are
meant to contain Galla Placidia's remains and those of her son and husband, but
it is more likely that she lies unadorned in Rome, where she died in
A
.
D
. 450.
The enchanting 4th-century octagonal
Battistero Neoniano
(Via Battistero;
for all details, see “Ravenna's Cumulative Ticket & Open Hours,” below)
was built
A Summertime Music Festival
The
Ravenna Festival International (
%
0544-249244; www.ravennafestival.
org)
—6 or 7 weeks between June and August—has become world renowned,
drawing a top list of classical musicians and opera stars in concert in
palazzi
and
on
piazze.
