RAVENNA, ITALY

Ravenna is the capital of Ravenna province in North Central Italy, near the Adriatic Sea. It is an agricultural market and industrial centre. Ravenna rose to importance under the Romans who made Classis, its port, their station for fleet-in the North Adriatic. In 402 A. D., Honorius made Ravenna the capital of Western Empire, and it was also the capital of the Ostrogoth kings Odoacer and Theodoric in the 5th and 6th centuries A. D. The Da Polenta family, known as Dante’s hosts, were lords in Ravenna from the 13^th to the 15^th centuries. Ravenna is famous for its colourful mosaics of the 5^th and 6^th centuries, and for its Roman and Byzantine buildings. The octagonal baptistery (formerly a Roman bath), the 6^th century churches of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo and Sant’ Apollinare in Classe, the Byzantine Church of San Vitale (consecrated in 547), the tombs of Theodoric and Dante, the Archbishop’s Palace, and the Academy of fine Arts, are located in Ravenna.