Discovering Ravenna and its mosaics 3h00 hours walking tour

Discovering Ravenna and its mosaics 3h00 hours walking tour

Discover Ravenna, known all over the world as the capital of mosaic with our 3h00 hours walking tour!

The guided tour includes:
- the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (V century)
- the Byzantine Basilica of San Vitale (VI century)
- the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo (V and VI century)
- Dante’s area: the Basilica of Saint Francis and the Tomb of Dante Alighieri
- we can enjoy a cup of coffee or an ice cream or a typical piadina in Piazza del Popolo, and we can make a short visit to one of the many mosaic workshops.

Discover Ravenna, known all over the world as the capital of mosaic, with our 3h00 hours walking tour!

The tour can be done in the morning or in the afternoon. The meeting point is the ticket office of San Vitale, in Via Argentario n.22, where we will buy together the ticket that includes all the monuments of our tour. The ticket costs 8,50 euros until the end of february and 10,50 euros from March 1st to June 15th.

Our journey into history starts from the Roman Age (V century), with the wonderful Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. The Roman empress built this place to contain the remains of her and her family, and the beautiful mosaics in here represent stories of the Bible and Saints, but also fine decorations that remind the eastern art and the nature; on top the famous starry sky enchants for its light and its golden shines. 

We admire the magnificence of the Byzantine time (VI century), with the grandiose Basilica of San Vitale, with its particular octagonal shape and famous for the variety of its marble and the fine mosaics representing the emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora.

We explore the period of Theodoric, the Ostrogoth’s King (V-VI centuries), with the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, a Palatine church decorated with mosaics that show stories of Jesus and the important places of ancient Ravenna as the port of Classis and the Palace of the King. Together with the mosaic of Theodoric’s time, we have here also the bright procession of martyrs and virgins, a Byzantine addition that proves the troubled past of this church.

We pay homage to the major Italian poet visiting Dante’s area, with the evocative flooded crypt of the Basilica of Saint Francis and the neoclassical Tomb of Dante Alighieri: we discover the adventurous story of its remains, stolen from the Franciscan Friars to keep them in Ravenna, and the love of Ravenna people for the poet throughout the centuries.

We enjoy a cup of coffee or an ice cream or a typical piadina in Piazza del Popolo, the beautiful Town Hall square with its elegant Venetian characteristics, and we make a short visit to one of the many mosaic workshops.

At the end of the tour, we can give you suggestions for your free time and for cafes and restaurant in town.