(The article has been revised because I knew really little of Ravenna when I took this tour. More systematic articles on the topics mentioned will follow.)


It's like that time in Paris: the others went to Eurodisney, I went to the Père Lachaise cemetery. But how can I help being happier with a bunch of dead people? So, finding myself at a Star Trek convention half an hour from Ravenna, there was no contest...

Saturday, June 21, 2005, 10:20 am. I am so excited that I burst out of the station, intentioned to see Theodoric's Mausoleum first, and set out at a brisk pace in the opposite direction. It will turn out to be the best choice after all: seeing the city first and then relaxing in the park. Ravenna is a lovely town, with level streets and kind citizens. The only problem is that, in true Gothic fashion, sidewalks are for the weak. If cars won't kill you, bicycles will.
Street names too are for the weak in Ravenna, which will account for some spectacular wrong turns even with my attention fully focussed. But for the moment my first destination is very close: the so-called Palace of Theodoric, actually, so they say, a part of another building, maybe of later times. I'm so lucky to have chosen a time when all the smaller monuments, Mausoleum included, are free.
The "palace" has a spiral staircase which leads upstairs and various mosaics are displayed. Here I solved the mystery of the supposed Theodoric portrait in Thidrek's gallery (scroll down, beside Amalasuntha). It is one of these mosaics from the original palace, which are very fragmented, and I seriously doubt that chance preserved a portrait of Theodoric when men worked so hard at destroying them.

The next step is a deviation from my Gothic program: a devoted stop at Dante's Tomb - meaningful only for his greatness, because the tomb in itself said little to me.

Then comes the first Really Big Place: Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. One really has to go see works of arts with one's own eyes, when possible. We can see reproductions of the parades of the Virgins and Martyrs, but not get the idea of the movement they convey, the way they really seem to lead towards the altar, or the incredible detail of the mosaics even high above our heads.
And I never expected that the mosaic reproduction of the Palace of Theodoric would be so large. It is just to the right of the entrance, at about 12 ft. from the floor, about 10 tall for 20 wide. You can perfectly see against the columns the hands of the figures - Theodoric and his following - that were substituted with draperies when Byzantine rule obliterated their memory.
Over the door is also a fragment of mosaic portraying Justinian. I found it remarkable because it portrays a grey-haired, overweight man instead of the youthful emperor with a five o'clock shadow we are used to from the San Vitale mosaics. Which makes you think that those aren't idealized at all, since the artists had no qualms at representing the emperor in such an unflattering way here. [It is possibly Theodoric - see upcoming post.]
Sometimes weird things happen. Right below Theodoric's Palace I see a small black thing. It looks like a piece of cloth, then it lifts its head. I get closer: it's a scared bird. It doesn't even try to escape when I lift it up in my cupped hands, quite the contrary, it grasps my fingers. I deposit it in one of the flowerbeds outside. It doesn't look hurt, wings neatly folded, tail flaring out with all its feathers. I hope it's just dazed from getting lost inside the church. I leave it there, trying not to think of lost souls.

Next: Baptistery of the Orthodox. All baptisteries have an overwhelming effect on me, because of the small space and the amount of art just pouring on you. This one is no exception. Once again, when you see pictures you don't notice the incredible harmony of the first order of mosaics, then a second order of simple, soft marble to rest the eyes, then again a feast of gold and colours exploding overhead like fireworks.

Finding San Vitale is a small adventure. (ha! What did I know! see below) Road signs don't help. Finally I am told I am close if I go through the National Museum which incidentally is one of those places where entrance is free. Yet another diversion: I can't resist the word "free". By then it's past 13: my train is at 15:41. I blaze through the museum and can report at least one catch concerning my field of interest: two pieces of lead tubes from the aqueduct, printed with the words REX THEODERICUS CIVITATI REDDIDIT. It seems he went so far in his effort to renew the city that he ordered private citizens to keep their trees and shrubberies trimmed around the aqueducts. I also see a reproduction of Guidarello Guidarelli's tombstone, less striking than I thought: or maybe I was just in a hurry.

The interior of San Vitale is less impressive overall because the main body is painted with Baroque frescoes [really? got to check this - maybe I was just tired] that I find especially grating here, especially after seeing the stark simplicity of the marble second order of the Orthodox Baptistery. The central-structured building with a second floor gallery opening new volumes is a triumph of architecture. But just turn towards the apse and everything changes. Here we come face to face with Theodora and Justinian - or rather with their own face-to-face conversation. The two scenes are set higher than human height but are not large: certainly smaller than the Virgins and Martyrs and maybe even Theodoric's Palace at Sant'Apollinare Nuovo: even the figures seem smaller than life. Yet you can see every detail, catch every gaze in the figures' eyes. It gives a new meaning to the phrase "blaze of glory".

When I get out my stamina is low. I look interestedly at a tiny building nearby with people standing outside, in the vague hope it could be a public restroom, then when I see the girl punching tickets I realize it's the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. I go in sheepishly, and am immediately captured by the atmosphere. The only light comes from the tiny door and a handful of alabaster windows. With the door closed the effect must be eerie. But you just have to look overhead and you see the mosaic stars; and turning back towards the door a gallery of more stylized stars, almost leading the way. You don't visualize such things when you read descriptions in art manuals. Or maybe I'm just suffering from Stendahl's Syndrome. Anyway the place is lyrical, even though it's not certain it's really Galla Placidia's tomb.

Walking back towards the railroad I stop at another minor but pleasant place, the Baptistery of the Arians. It has only a Baptism of Christ in the cupola, surrounded by Apostles, and nothing else: but I take time to look at each Apostle's face, and wonder how they made them so alive - did they copy from living models, or had just an incredible imagination? One Apostle even has a sideburns moustache.

A couple of small scares later - will I be able to walk along Ravenna's ring road? Will the place be even open or will I just see the cupola through the trees? - and I'm standing in front of Theodoric's Mausoleum and it's barely past 14, with all the time to look at it at ease. They say it's small. It could be: the effect is distorted by the fact that the two-story, baptistery-like white building stands in the middle of a construction yard. They have been working in the park for almost ten years now: it should be almost finished, but the fact is that, while the rest of the park is stunningly beautiful, the mausoleum is surrounded with red plastic mesh and bulldozers. Does this stop my enjoyment? No! I visit the lower floor, completely empty and bare, then climb an external metal stair to the funeral room. That's empty too, apart from the porphyry sarcophagus, smashed apart at one end. There's a strange, not unpleasant smell, closed and clean. I knew already there was a cross traced in the cupola, but did not know there was something written all along the inner rim, barely fragments of letters. I can't remember whether they are from Theodoric's time. [No, they aren't.]
I don't feel very mystical, maybe because there's nobody actually buried there. Of course, thinking about the way the tomb was desecrated, it would be easy to imagine that the ghost of the king comes back to haunt this place from whatever swamp they dumped his bones in. I do feel reluctance to leave; and as I walk the lovely and utterly empty park in a bright summer day, I can't help wondering why people don't go there.
I slam my nose on the very real reason while trying to go back to the station, which is so near I can see it from there. There are road works too, and my attempts at reaching the station end on a river's edge, in a military zone and finally into a sort of highway without - you guessed it - sidewalks. Luckily I took my time! It looks like I'll have to take a very long roundabout... Then two other tourists appear, waylaid by Theodoric in the same way, and together we boldly walk along the highway.

So: visit Ravenna, it's an incredible town, but wait a while to be sure that everything is clear again around Theodoric's Mausoleum! [It is... it's wonderful... what are you doing still here?]