When the Western Roman Empire ended in 476 AD, Italy did not disappear into darkness — it came under the governance of the Eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire, centred on Constantinople) for the next 300–600 years depending on the region. The Ravenna mosaics, the Venice connection to the East, the Sicilian Arab-Norman synthesis — all of these are intelligible only through the Byzantine context. This is the guide to that context, and to the sites that make it visible.
Read the guide →The Byzantine period in Italy begins with the Eastern Emperor Justinian I's reconquest of Italy from the Ostrogothic kingdom (the Gothic Wars, 535–554 AD — 20 years of devastating military campaign that depopulated much of the peninsula and destroyed the remaining Roman aristocratic culture) and ends approximately with the Norman conquest of Sicily (1071) and southern Italy (1130). Between these dates, the Byzantine Empire maintained varying degrees of control over Italy through the Exarchate of Ravenna (the Byzantine administrative centre in northern Italy, based in Ravenna from 584–751 AD when the Lombards conquered it), the Duchy of Naples, the Byzantine Catapanate of Italy (the administrative unit governing Puglia, Calabria, and Basilicata from 965–1071), and the Byzantine presence in Sicily until the Arab conquest (827–1072).
The historical significance: the Byzantine presence in Italy preserved the Roman legal and administrative tradition (the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, 529 AD — the legal codification that became the foundation of modern European civil law), transmitted the Greek intellectual tradition to western Europe (the Byzantine libraries and the multilingual scholars who moved between Constantinople and Italy), and produced the most technically accomplished visual art in the medieval West (the mosaic tradition described in the mosaic guide). Understanding the Byzantine period explains why Ravenna looks nothing like Rome, why Venice has a Byzantine basilica in its central piazza, and why the Norman churches of Sicily have Islamic stalactite ceilings with Byzantine gold mosaics above and Latin inscriptions below.
Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna): The most concentrated Byzantine art destination — 8 UNESCO buildings (combined ticket €12), all within walking distance. The most important: Mausoleo di Galla Placidia (425–450 AD, the oldest surviving Early Christian interior with intact mosaics, the deep blue vault, the specific colour combination of the two small sarcophagi niches), Basilica di San Vitale (547 AD, the Justinian and Theodora mosaic panels — the most politically significant 6th-century images in the West), and Battistero Neoniano (5th century, the oldest surviving Ravenna baptistery, the dome mosaic showing the Baptism of Christ in the centre and the 12 apostles processing around the perimeter). Venice — Basilica di San Marco: The 11th-century Basilica di San Marco is the most complete Byzantine-Venetian building in the West — the five domes, the Greek-cross plan, and the 8,000 m² of gold-ground mosaic on the interior surfaces are directly modelled on the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople (destroyed in 1461 — the Venice basilica is the only surviving version of the model). The specific connection: Venice was technically under Byzantine suzerainty until 1204 (the Fourth Crusade, when the Venetians sacked Constantinople — the culminating irony of the Byzantine-Venetian relationship). Sicily — Cappella Palatina (Palermo): The most technically extraordinary Byzantine-Arab-Norman synthesis — the ceiling is Islamic stalactite (muqarnas) work by Arab craftsmen, the wall and apse mosaics are Byzantine-tradition gold-ground work by Greek craftsmen, and the Latin inscriptions are Norman-period commissions. Built by Roger II of Sicily (1132–1143) — the Norman king who hired craftsmen from all three traditions simultaneously. The Cappella Palatina is the most culturally complex building in Italy (€12, Palazzo dei Normanni complex).
The Byzantine period in Italy covers approximately 476–1071 AD — from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the Norman conquest of southern Italy. During this period, the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire, centred on Constantinople) governed varying portions of Italy: the Exarchate of Ravenna (northern Italy, 584–751), the Duchy of Naples, the Catapanate of Italy (Puglia and Calabria, 965–1071), and Byzantine Sicily (until the Arab conquest, 827–1072). The most visible legacy: the Ravenna UNESCO mosaic complex (425–550 AD), the Venice Basilica di San Marco (begun 1063, modelled on the Constantinople Church of the Holy Apostles), the Byzantine cave churches of Puglia and Calabria, and the Norman-Byzantine synthesis art of Sicily (Cappella Palatina, Monreale Cathedral). The Byzantine period is the least studied and most rewarding Italian historical topic for visitors who want to understand the gap between Rome and the Renaissance.
Byzantine art in Italy: Ravenna (8 UNESCO buildings, combined €12 — the most concentrated early Byzantine art outside Turkey); Venice Basilica di San Marco (free entry to the basilica, 8,000 m² of gold-ground mosaic, the Pala d'Oro €5); Cappella Palatina Palermo (€12, the most technically complex Byzantine-Arab-Norman synthesis); Monreale Cathedral near Palermo (€4, the largest figurative mosaic programme in the world — 6,340 m²); the Byzantine cave churches of Puglia/Matera area (Gravina in Puglia Madonna della Stella cave church; the Parco della Murgia Materana cave churches, accessible from Matera); and the Byzantine Museum of Reggio Calabria (within the Museo Nazionale della Magna Graecia — the most complete documentation of Byzantine Calabrian culture, including the early 13th-century Nilus of Rossano's illustrated Codex Purpureus). Related: Italy history guide.
The most specifically Byzantine Italian experience that most visitors don't know exists: the cave churches (chiese rupestri) of Puglia, Basilicata, and Calabria — natural or carved caves converted to Christian use by Byzantine-period monastic communities, the walls covered in painted frescoes of the Greek iconographic tradition. The most significant: the Parco della Murgia Materana (the cave church landscape below Matera — accessible by guided tour from Matera, €12, the most concentrated rupestri landscape in Italy, with the Cripta del Peccato Originale — the "Crypt of Original Sin," 8th–9th century frescoes described as "the Sistine Chapel of the rupestri" by scholars); the Cripta di San Biagio at Brindisi (11th-century Byzantine frescoes in a cave below the cathedral — the most geographically accessible southern Italian cave church); and the Basento valley cave churches in Basilicata (accessible from Matera — the most archaeologically intact Byzantine landscape in mainland Italy). Related: Basilicata guide.
Ravenna 8-site combined ticket, Venice San Marco mosaic guide, Cappella Palatina Palermo advance booking, and the Matera cave church guided tour booking.
La Redazione di TourLeaderPro.comItaly's 20th-century industrial history produced several buildings and sites that are among the most architecturally significant industrial heritage objects in the world:
Lingotto FIAT Factory, Turin (1921–1982 — converted 1989, now museum and hotel): The Lingotto factory (Via Nizza 262, Turin — designed by Giacomo Matté-Trucco, opened 1923) is the most iconic Italian industrial building — the 500m production line building with the test track on the roof (the spiral ramps at each end allowing completed cars to drive directly from the production line to the rooftop oval). The FIAT Lingotto was the largest car factory in the world at its 1923 opening; when it closed in 1982, it was converted to a mixed-use complex (hotel, conference centre, concert hall, and the Pinacoteca Agnelli — €10, the Agnelli family's art collection including a Canaletto, a Tiepolo, and the most important Italian Matisse holdings, with the rooftop 'jewel box' gallery by Renzo Piano). The rooftop test track is still accessible via the Pinacoteca Agnelli elevator. Olivetti Works, Ivrea (UNESCO 2018): The Olivetti typewriter and computing factory complex in Ivrea (Piedmont — 55km north of Turin) is the most socially ambitious Italian industrial heritage — Adriano Olivetti (1901–1960) designed the factory and the workers' community at Ivrea as an integrated social experiment: the factory building (1895, Camillo Olivetti's original works; Figini and Pollini's 1930s modernist extension), the worker housing (designed by leading Italian architects of the 1930s–1960s), the social services (kindergarten, library, sports facilities all within the Olivetti community), and the design archive (the Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, designed by Marcello Nizzoli, 1950, selected by MoMA New York as the best industrial design of the 20th century). The Ivrea Olivetti complex is accessible from Turin by train (1 hour, €4.50); the Officina H (Via Jervis, Ivrea — the main Olivetti heritage visitor centre, free entry, Tuesday–Sunday 10am–6pm) is the starting point.
The Lingotto (Via Nizza 262, Turin) was FIAT's primary car production facility from 1923 to 1982 — the 500m five-storey production line building with a rooftop test track (the helical ramps at each end allowing completed cars to drive directly from the last assembly stage to the rooftop oval). Designed by Giacomo Matté-Trucco, it was the most technically sophisticated car factory of the 1920s. The building was converted to a mixed-use complex by Renzo Piano (1989) — now a hotel, conference centre, shopping centre, concert hall, and the Pinacoteca Agnelli (€10, the Agnelli family art collection). The rooftop test track is accessible from the Pinacoteca Agnelli elevator (included in €10 admission). The Lingotto is 20 minutes by Tram 16 from central Turin. Related: Turin guide.
Italy has been more consistently and more precisely described by non-Italian writers than almost any other country — the Grand Tour tradition produced 300 years of foreign literary engagement with the Italian landscape and cities:
Goethe in Italy (1786–1788): Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Italian Journey (Italienische Reise, 1816) is the most influential single travel document in Italian literary history — the book that codified the Grand Tour experience and established Rome, Naples, and Sicily as the canonical Italian circuit. Goethe visited Italy at 37 (September 1786 – April 1788), partly to escape the Weimar court and partly because he needed to see the classical antiquity that German education taught in the abstract. The specific Goethe locations: Torbole on Lake Garda (September 1786, where he stopped in the first days of the Italian journey and described the lake in the finest German prose Lake Garda has ever received); the Orto Botanico di Padova (November 1786 — where he saw the Goethe palm and developed his theory of the Urpflanze — the archetypal plant); Rome (October 1786 to February 1787, and April–June 1787, the most productive period); and Sicily (March–April 1787). Henry James in Italy: Henry James spent portions of nearly every year between 1869 and 1905 in Italy; his Italian Hours (1909) is the most precise literary description of the late 19th-century Italian experience. His Venice chapters (written from the rooms he rented above the Grand Canal) are the finest English-language description of Venice available. The specific James locations: the Palazzo Barbaro (the Venetian palazzo belonging to the Curtis family where James stayed and wrote, now a private residence); the Villa Medici Rome (the scene of Roderick Hudson); and the Castel Gandolfo area (the setting of the short stories). D.H. Lawrence in Italy (1912–1913): Lawrence's Twilight in Italy (1916) and Sea and Sardinia (1921) are the most physically engaged British literary descriptions of Italian landscape — Lawrence walked the old pilgrim routes of Lake Garda and the mountain paths of Sardinia, describing the physical sensation of Italian geography with a sensory specificity that no other British writer of the period attempted.
Writers most associated with specific Italian locations: Goethe (Italian Journey 1816 — Rome, Naples, Sicily, Lake Garda; Orto Botanico Padova, the Goethe Palm); Henry James (Italian Hours 1909 — Venice, Rome, Tuscany; the most precise English-language Italian literary description); D.H. Lawrence (Twilight in Italy 1916, Sea and Sardinia 1921 — Lake Garda villages, Sardinia, the most physically engaged British Italian writing); E.M. Forster (A Room With a View 1908, Where Angels Fear to Tread 1905 — Florence; the Piazza Signoria described in the scene where Lucy Honeychurch witnesses a stabbing is the most specific literary Florence); and Carlo Levi (Christ Stopped at Eboli 1945 — Aliano, Basilicata; the most important Italian literary document of southern poverty, described in the Basilicata guide).