Rome was buried in Ravenna, according to the title of a historical novel by László Passuth from 1971. The Hungarian book is about the life of Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. The reading has accompanied me for a week and a half and also on this trip.
For some time I have been fascinated by the city, which was one of the last capitals of the Roman Empire in late antiquity. During the time of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justician, the city became an important outpost of Byzantium (Eastern Rome) around 550 AD. Mosaics and basilicas in Ravenna bear witness to the very early days of Christianity and the end of the Roman order.
The morning began with a tourist farewell to Florence = 6 euros city tax per person per night. The hotel receptionist who collected the money apologized several times. It was Holy Saturday and the route to Ravenna led again via Bologna. Legions of young people with luggage were already waiting there for the train to Rimini (via Ravenna). Regional trains are not really suitable for people with luggage.
The station forecourt was unadorned and the sky was overcast. I had imagined the trip to antiquity differently. Even the first visit to church didn't change much. The mosaic fragments on display appeared almost infantile: warriors with bulbous noses and animals like something out of a four-year-old's coloring book.
All of this changed with the right collective ticket, including a city map. This led to mausoleums, churches and baptismal chapels with fantastic mosaics, whose colors radiated and whose richness of imagery took your breath away. In the Bishop's Palace there was also a carved ivory throne from the 6th century and a huge stone that marked the date of Easter for more than 130 years.
Other sights: the tomb of Theodoric, one of the few architectural monuments of the migration period, the grave of the national poet Dante Alighieri and a church with a goldfish pond under the chancel.
On the way back to Bologna by train, I compared my impressions with the illustrations in the Ravenna novel. Now I just had to find the time and leisure to finish the 400-page book.
For dinner we had calzones, a beer and a limoncello, which unexpectedly wasn't on the house, hmm.
