Ravenna: What to See, How Long to Allow, and Why It Rewards a Full Day

Ravenna is one of the most underestimated cities in northern Italy. It sits an hour from Bologna by train, contains eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites within walking distance of each other, and is quiet enough to visit without queuing. Most people who stop here give it a morning. Most people leave wishing they had given it a day.

The city was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402 AD, then the seat of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, then a Byzantine exarchate. Each ruler built religious monuments and decorated them with mosaic — a technique that Ravenna pushed to a level of refinement not matched anywhere else in Europe. The mosaics from the 5th and 6th centuries are not museum exhibits. They are in functioning churches and baptisteries, seen in the same light and context for which they were made.

What to See

The eight UNESCO monuments fall into two groups. Six are in or near the city centre and can be covered on foot: the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Neonian Baptistery, the Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, the Arian Baptistery, the Archbishop’s Chapel, and the Basilica di San Vitale. The seventh, the Mausoleum of Theodoric, is a ten-minute walk northeast of the centre. The eighth, Sant’Apollinare in Classe, is 5 km from the city near the site of the ancient Roman port of Classis.

A combined ticket covers the main cluster. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia requires a separate booking in peak season — its timed entry fills up. Start there if you book nothing else in advance. The deep blue mosaic ceiling, lit through alabaster windows and unchanged since 430 AD, is the single most affecting room in the city.

Dante

Dante Alighieri spent the last years of his life in Ravenna after his exile from Florence and died here in 1321. His tomb stands in a small neoclassical building beside the Basilica di San Francesco, a five-minute walk from San Vitale. Florence has an empty cenotaph in Santa Croce. The bones are here. The Pineta di Classe — the ancient pine forest south of the city that Dante described in Canto XXVIII of the Purgatorio — is worth a short drive if you have time.

How Long to Allow

Three to four hours covers the main cluster at an unhurried pace, with time to sit in each building rather than move through quickly. Add an hour for lunch in the centre and another hour for Piazza del Popolo, Dante’s tomb, and the covered market. A full day allows for Sant’Apollinare in Classe and, with a car, Comacchio and the Po Delta wetlands to the north.

For a structured walking route through four of the main sites in sequence, see our Ravenna half-day walking route. For combining the mosaics with an afternoon at the Adriatic coast, see our Ravenna mosaics and beaches day trip guide. For a monument-by-monument guide to what you are looking at inside each building, see the Ravenna mosaics guide. For the Adriatic coast, see our Ravenna beaches guide. To visit the mosaics with an expert guide, see our Ravenna guided tour. For a half-day excursion into the Romagna hills, our Ravenna truffle hunting experience combines well with a morning in the city.

Getting There from Bologna

Direct regional trains from Bologna Centrale run roughly every hour and take around 1 hour 15 minutes. No reservation is required. The fare is around €8 each way. Ravenna station is a ten-minute walk from the main mosaic sites. Driving takes about an hour and gives you the flexibility to reach Classe and the coast.

Where to Eat

The food in Ravenna is Romagnola rather than Bolognese — piadina flatbread, cappelletti pasta in broth, brodetto di pesce (the Adriatic fish stew), and passatelli (egg and Parmesan dumplings in broth). The covered market on Via Mentana stocks local produce and has a wine bar inside. For lunch near the mosaics, the streets around Piazza del Popolo have a range of restaurants serving traditional Romagnola food within five minutes of San Vitale. For a full guide to the dishes, local restaurants, and the covered market, see our Ravenna food guide.