Friday, March 18
8.30 am-7 pm
Visits to: Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Neonian Baptistery, Basilica of San Vitale, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.
The visit is compulsory for students of the courses S2204 Art and Architecture in Renaissance Venice and S2219 Public Renaissance: Urban Cultures of Public Space between Early Modern Europe and the Present. For them the costs will be covered by VIU.
Program
8.15 Meeting at the Bus park in Tronchetto (behind the People Mover)
8.30 Private bus departing from Tronchetto bus park (behind the People Mover)
11.00 Arrival in Ravenna
Guided visits to:
Battistero degli Ariani
church of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo
Piazza del Popolo
13.30-14.30 Lunch break
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Church of San Vitale
Visit to Battistero Neoniano
Museo Arcivescovile
17.00 Bus departing from Ravenna
19.00 Arrival at Tronchetto
The program may be subject to changes for logistic reasons.
For info: come at the VIU Front Office or write to frontoffice@univiu.org
Some information about Ravenna:
Known as the finest outside of Istanbul, the exquisite mosaics in Ravenna have earned the town the distinguished designation of UNESCO World Heritage Site and are well worth a day trip.
History
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until that empire collapsed in 476.
It then served as the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths until it was conquered in 540 by the Byzantine Empire.
Afterwards, the city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the invasion of the Franks in 751, after which it became the seat of the Kingdom of the Lombards.
Although an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal.
It is the location of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Within its ancient walls it keeps the richest heritage of mosaics dating from the 5th and 6th centuries. For this reason its early Christian and Byzantine religious buildings have been acknowledged as world heritage by Unesco; they include the simple outer shell of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia hides a ceiling of infinite stars, the refined composition that decorates Neonian Baptistery is inspired by a cultured Hellenic tradition, recalled also in the Arian Baptistery, the regal style of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo reveals its origins as a palatine church built by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, more than one hundred little birds lead you into the intimacy of the Chapel of Sant'Andrea in which the triumphant Christ is celebrated, the majestic Mausoleum of Theodoric covered by a massive block of stone in the cupola, the Basilica of San Vitale which is the greatest treasure of the early Christian era contains the portraits of the imperial Byzantine court, while outside the city the extremely elegant Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe has a wonderful apse depicting Christ and Sant'Apollinare, the first bishop and patron.
Food
Piadina or Piada is a thin Italian flatbread, typically prepared in the Romagna region (Forlì-Cesena, Ravenna and Rimini). It is usually made with white flour, lard or olive oil, salt and water. The dough was traditionally cooked on a terracotta dish (called teggia in the Romagnolo dialect), although nowadays flat pans or electric griddles are commonly used. Piadine are usually sold immediately after preparation in specialized kiosks (called piadinerie) filled with a variety of cheeses, cold cuts and vegetables, but also with sweet fillings such as jam or Nutella.