Ravenna

History

The origin of the name Ravenna is unclear. Some have speculated that "Ravenna" is related to "Rasenna" (or "Rasna"), the term that the Etruscans used for themselves, but there is no agreement on this point.

Ancient era

The origins of Ravenna are uncertain. The oldest archaeological evidence found dates the Umbri presence in Ravenna at least to the 5th century BC, where it was undisturbed until the 3rd century BC, when first contact with Roman civilization began. Its territory was settled also by the Senones, especially the southern countryside of the city (that was not part of the lagoon), the Ager Decimanus. Ravenna consisted of houses built on piles on a series of small islands in a marshy lagoon – a situation similar to Venice several centuries later. The Romans ignored it during their conquest of the Po River Delta, but later accepted it into the Roman Republic as a federated town in 89 BC.

In 49 BC, Julius Caesar had gathered his forces at Ravenna before crossing the Rubicon. Later Octavian, after his battle against Mark Antony in 31 BC, founded the military harbor of Classis. This harbor, protected at first by its own walls, was an important station of the Roman Imperial Fleet. Nowadays, the city is landlocked, but Ravenna remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages. During the Germanic campaigns, Thusnelda, widow of Arminius, and Marbod, King of the Marcomanni, were confined at Ravenna.

Ravenna greatly prospered under Roman rule. Emperor Trajan built a 70 km (43.50 mi) long aqueduct at the beginning of the 2nd century. During the Marcomannic Wars, Germanic settlers in Ravenna revolted and seized the city. For this reason, Marcus Aurelius decided not only against bringing more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there. In 402, Emperor Honorius took up residence of the city and it became the de facto capital of the Western Roman Empire; it served as the capital for most of the 5th century and the last de facto western emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed there in AD 476. At that time, it was home to 50,000 people. The transfer was made partly for defensive purposes: Ravenna was surrounded by swamps and marshes, and was perceived to be easily defensible (although in fact the city fell to opposing forces numerous times in its history); it is also likely that the move to Ravenna was due to the city's port and good sea-borne connections to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 409, King Alaric I of the Visigoths simply bypassed Ravenna, and went on to sack Rome in 410 and to take Galla Placidia, daughter of Emperor Theodosius I, hostage.

After many vicissitudes, Galla Placidia returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III, due to the support of her nephew Theodosius II. Ravenna enjoyed a period of peace, during which time the imperial court favoured the Christian religion. The city gained some of its most famous monuments, including the Orthodox Baptistry, the misnamed Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (she was not actually buried there), and San Giovanni Evangelista.

Ostrogothic Kingdom

The late 5th century saw the dissolution of Roman authority in the west, and Romulus Augustulus was deposed in 476 by the general Odoacer. Odoacer ruled as King of Italy for 13 years, but in 489 the Eastern Emperor Zeno sent the Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great to re-take the Italian peninsula. After losing the Battle of Verona, Odoacer retreated to Ravenna, where he withstood a siege of three years by Theodoric, until the taking of Rimini deprived Ravenna of supplies. Theodoric took Ravenna in 493, supposedly slaying Odoacer with his own hands, and Ravenna became the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy. Theodoric, following his imperial predecessors, also built many splendid buildings in and around Ravenna, including his palace church Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, an Arian cathedral (now Santo Spirito) and Baptistery, and his own Mausoleum just outside the walls.

Both Odoacer and Theodoric and their followers were Arian Christians, but co-existed peacefully with the Latins, who were largely Nicene. Ravenna's Nicene bishops carried out notable building projects, of which the sole surviving one is the Cappella Arcivescovile. Theodoric allowed Roman citizens within his kingdom to be subject to Roman law and the Roman judicial system. The Goths, meanwhile, lived under their own laws and customs. In 519, when a mob had burned down the synagogues of Ravenna, Theodoric ordered the town to rebuild them at its own expense.

Theodoric died in 526 and was succeeded by his young grandson Athalaric under the authority of his daughter Amalasuintha, but by 535 both were dead and Theodoric's line was represented only by Amalasuntha's daughter Mataswintha. Various Ostrogothic military leaders took the Kingdom of Italy, but none were as successful as Theodoric had been. Meanwhile, the Chalcedonian Byzantine Emperor Justinian I opposed both Ostrogoth rule and the Gothic variety of Christianity. In 535 his general Belisarius invaded Italy and in 540 conquered Ravenna. After the conquest of Italy was completed in 554, Ravenna became the seat of Byzantine government in Italy.

From 540 to 600, Ravenna's bishops embarked upon a notable building program of churches in Ravenna and in and around the port city of Classe. Surviving monuments include the Basilica of San Vitale and the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, as well as the partially surviving San Michele in Africisco.

Exarchate of Ravenna

Following the conquests of Belisarius for Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, Ravenna became the seat of the Byzantine governor of Italy, the Exarch, and was known as the Exarchate of Ravenna. It was at this time that the Ravenna Cosmography was written.

Under Byzantine rule, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ravenna was temporarily granted autocephaly from the Roman Church by the emperor, in 666, but this was soon revoked. Nevertheless, the archbishop of Ravenna held the second place in Italy after the pope, and played an important role in many theological controversies during this period.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

The Lombards, under King Liutprand, occupied Ravenna in 712, but were forced to return it to the Byzantines. Shortly after Aistulf, the Lombard Duke of Friuli, was crowned King of the Lombards in 749, he pursued an aggressive policy of expansion into the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna and the territory claimed by the Pope through the Patrimony of Saint Peter.

In 751, the Byzantines surrendered the Exarchate of Ravenna to Aistulf. Aistulf then proceeded farther south and threatened Rome claiming jurisdiction and demanding tribute and acknowledgement of his sovereignty. Pope Stephen II appealed to Aistulf but to no avail. In 753, Pope Stephen traveled to France to seek the help of Pepin, King of the Franks. Pepin responded favorably and ultimately conducted two campaigns to the Italian Peninsula to confront Aistulf with respect to territory that had been taken illegally.

Finally in 756, Aistulf conceded defeat, and agreed to pay reparations and surrender the territory taken five years earlier. At that time, Pepin fulfilled a promise that he had made two years prior in France and granted the pope the right to large territories that included the former Exarchate of Ravenna and the Roman duchy. This act has become known as the Donation of Pepin and provided the legal basis for the creation of the Papal States.

After Pepin’s Donation and the establishment of the Papal States, Byzantine-era administrative structures collapsed during the 9th and 10th centuries. Papal control was indirect, with local dukes and Lombard lords exercising de facto power. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Ravenna became a contested city between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy, with imperial appointees often clashing with papal legates.

The beginning of the 13th century was a period of great turmoil for the city of Ravenna. At that time, conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines was intensifying. In 1198, Ravenna led a league of Romagna cities and Marches against the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto IV. Pope Innocent III was able to capitalize on the anti-imperial sentiment in Romagna, to strengthen papal influence over Ravenna and other cities in the region.

In 1218, Pietro Traversari came to power in Ravenna after defeating the Ubertini and Mainardi factions during the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict. The Traversari family ruled Ravenna for 22 years until 1240 when Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II besieged Ravenna and expelled the Traversari after they aligned themselves with the pro-papal Guelphs.

Modern age

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Ravenna was part of the Papal States up until 1796, when it was annexed into the French puppet state of the Cisalpine Republic / Italian Republic, and then made part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1802. It was returned to the Papal States in 1814. Occupied by Piedmontese troops in 1859, Ravenna and the surrounding Romagna area became part of the new unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

During WWII, the town suffered severe damage. 52 Allied bombing raids had taken their toll, destroying some of Ravenna's noteworthy, unequalled early Christian art. Bombs intended for the railway station and its sidings had pulverised the Basilica of San Giovanni Evangelista in August 1944. On 5 November 1944 troops of 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, 5th Canadian Armoured Division and the British 27th Lancers entered and liberated Ravenna. A total of 937 Commonwealth soldiers who died in the winter of 1944–45 are buried in Ravenna War Cemetery, including 438 Canadians.

Demographics

As of 2026, the population is 156,475, of which 49.0% are male, and 51.0% are female. Minors make up 13.2% of the population, and seniors make up 26.5%.

Immigration

As of 2025, immigrants make up 15.3% of the total population. The 5 largest foreign countries of birth are Albania, Romania, Senegal, Moldova, and Ukraine.

Major monuments

Eight early Christian buildings of Ravenna are inscribed on the World Heritage List. These are:

Orthodox Baptistery, also called "Baptistery of Neon" (c. 430)

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (c. 430)

Arian Baptistery (c. 500)

Archiepiscopal Chapel (c. 500)

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (c. 500)

Mausoleum of Theodoric (520)

Basilica of San Vitale (548)

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe (549)

Other historic sites include:

The church of San Giovanni Evangelista is from the 5th century, erected by Galla Placidia after she survived a storm at sea. It was restored after the World War II bombings. The bell tower contains four bells, the two majors dating back to 1208.

The 6th-century church of the Spirito Santo, which has been quite drastically altered since the 6th century. It was originally the Arian cathedral. The façade has a 16th-century portico with five arcades.

The Basilica of San Francesco, rebuilt in the 10th–11th centuries over a precedent edifice dedicated to the Apostles and later to St. Peter. Behind the humble brick façade, it has a nave and two aisles. Fragments of mosaics from the first church are visible on the floor, which is usually covered by water after heavy rains (together with the crypt). Here the funeral ceremony of Dante Alighieri was held in 1321. The poet is buried in a tomb annexed to the church, the local authorities having resisted for centuries all demands by Florence for the return of the remains of its most famous exile.

Music

The city annually hosts the Ravenna Festival. Opera performances are held at the Teatro Alighieri while concerts take place at the Palazzo Mauro de André as well as in the ancient Basilica of San Vitale and Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti, a longtime resident of the city, regularly participates in the festival, which invites orchestras and other performers from around the world.

In literature

After his banishment from his native Florence, Dante spent most of the rest of his life in Ravenna, and he mentions the city in Canto V of his Inferno.

Also in the 16th century, Nostradamus provides four prophecies:

"The Magnavacca (canal) at Ravenna in great trouble, Canals by fifteen shut up at Fornase", in reference to fifteen French saboteurs.

As the place of a battle extending to Perugia and a sacred escape in its aftermath, leaving rotting horses left to eat.

In relation to the snatching of a lady "near Ravenna" and then the legate of Lisbon seizing 70 souls at sea.

Ravenna is one of three-similarly named contenders for the birth of the third and final Antichrist who enslaves Slovenia (see Ravne na Koroškem).

Ravenna is the setting for The Witch, a play written in the 1610s by Thomas Middleton.

Lord Byron lived in Ravenna between 1819 and 1821, led by the love for a local aristocratic and married young woman, Teresa Guiccioli. Here he continued Don Juan and wrote Ravenna Diary, My Dictionary and Recollections.

Ravenna is the location where Lionel, the protagonist of Mary Shelley's post-apocalyptic novel The Last Man, comes ashore after losing his companions to a howling storm in the Aegean Sea.

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) wrote a poem Ravenna in 1878.

Symbolist, lyrical poet Alexander Blok (1880–1921) wrote a poem entitled Ravenna (May–June 1909) inspired by his Italian journey (spring 1909).

In film

Michelangelo Antonioni filmed his 1964 movie Red Desert (Deserto Rosso) within the industrialised areas of the Pialassa valley.

Transport

Ravenna has an important commercial and tourist port.

Ravenna railway station has direct Trenitalia service to Bologna, Ferrara, Lecce, Milan, Parma, Rimini, and Verona.

Ravenna Airport is located in Ravenna. The nearest commercial airports are those of Forlì, Rimini and Bologna.

Freeways crossing Ravenna include: A14-bis from the hub of Bologna; on the north–south axis of EU routes E45 (from Rome) and E55 (SS-309 "Romea" from Venice); and on the regional Ferrara-Rimini axis of SS-16 (partially called "Adriatica").

Amusement parks

Mirabilandia

Safari Ravenna

Sport

The traditional football club of the city is Ravenna FC. Currently it plays in the third tier of Italian football, Serie C.

A.P.D. Ribelle 1927 is the football club of Castiglione di Ravenna, a town to the south of Ravenna.

The beaches of Ravenna hosted the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, in September 2011.

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Ravenna is twinned with:

Chichester, United Kingdom, since 1996

Speyer, Germany, since 1989

Chartres, France, since 1957

Notable people

Valentinian III (419–455), Roman Emperor

Matteo Plazzi, Italian sailor

Patrizio Ravennate (active in the late 14th Century), historian and chronicler

Giacomo Anziani (1681–1723), Italian architect, painter, and engraver

Laura Pausini (born 1974), Italian pop singer-songwriter, record producer and television personality

Raul Gardini (1933–1993), Italian businessman

Franco Manzecchi (1931–1979), Jazz drummer

Andrea Montanari (born 1965), Italian sprinter

Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713), Baroque violinist and composer

Luigi Legnani (1790–1877), guitarist and luthier

Tullio Bassi (born 1937), Italian violin maker

Peter Damian (c. 988 – 1072 or 1073), Catholic Saint and Cardinal

Francesco Ingoli (1578–1649), Theatine scientist, lawyer, and disputer of Galileo

Francesca da Rimini (1255 – c. 1285), historical person

Guido I da Polenta (died 1310), lord of Ravenna

Francesco Baracca (1888–1918), Italy's top fighter ace of World War I