Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire (402–476 AD), the Ostrogothic Kingdom (493–553), and the Byzantine Exarchate (584–751). The mosaics it accumulated across those three periods are the most complete Byzantine mosaic cycle outside Constantinople. The Ravenna Festival uses these buildings — the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia, the Baptistery of the Orthodox — as concert venues for its annual June–July programme. This guide covers both the festival and the city.
Read the guide →Ravenna's improbable historical trajectory: a lagoon city on the Adriatic coast of Emilia-Romagna that became the capital of the Western Roman Empire not by conquest but by geography. In 402 AD, Emperor Honorius moved the imperial court from Milan to Ravenna because the marshes surrounding the city (now mostly drained) made it virtually impregnable to the Visigoth armies then threatening northern Italy. Milan was more accessible and more prestigious; Ravenna was safer. The court stayed even after the Western Empire formally ended in 476.
The three periods of Ravenna's imperial primacy produced three distinct layers of mosaic art: Roman Christian period (5th century) — Galla Placidia's mausoleum (425 AD, the finest early Christian mosaics in the world), the Orthodox Baptistery (5th century). Ostrogothic period (late 5th–early 6th century) — Theodoric's mausoleum, the Arian Baptistery. Byzantine period (6th–8th century) — the Basilica di San Vitale (547 AD, with the extraordinary mosaic portraits of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora), Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Sant'Apollinare in Classe. All eight UNESCO-designated Ravenna mosaic sites can be visited in two days.
The Ravenna Festival (ravennafestival.org) is an annual music and performing arts festival held in June and July, founded in 1990 by conductor Riccardo Muti (who served as artistic director from 1990 to 2023 and remains associated with the festival) and Cristina Muti. The festival's specific character: classical music — opera, orchestral concerts, chamber music — performed in Ravenna's historic spaces, with a world music component that brings non-Western musical traditions into dialogue with the Byzantine heritage.
The most distinctive Ravenna Festival experience: a concert in the Basilica di San Vitale — a 6th-century octagonal Byzantine church with the Justinian and Theodora mosaic portraits on the apse wall, acoustics designed for Byzantine chant, and a contemporary music programme that uses the space as its primary artistic context. Tickets for San Vitale concerts: €25–60. The festival also uses the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe (7km south of Ravenna, accessible by bus — the most spectacular exterior of the Ravenna basilicas, with the 6th-century apse mosaic of the Transfiguration), the Teatro Alighieri (Ravenna's 19th-century opera house), and outdoor spaces.
The UNESCO mosaic circuit (€12 combined ticket for 5 sites) takes 1.5–2 days to cover properly. Beyond the mosaics:
Dante's tomb: Dante Alighieri was buried in Ravenna in 1321 (he died during a diplomatic mission from Ravenna to Venice, of malaria contracted in the Po delta marshes). His remains are in the small Danteum (Via Dante Alighieri 9, free) adjacent to the Basilica di San Francesco where his funeral was held. Florence has the Basilica of Santa Croce where Dante's cenotaph stands — but no body. Ravenna has the body. The tomb, visited by Boccaccio and later by Byron and Shelley, is a specifically literary dark tourism destination. The Marina di Ravenna coast: 10km from the city, Ravenna's coastal zone includes the pine forests of the Classe archaeological area (where the ancient port of Classis operated, from which the Byzantine fleet controlled the Adriatic) and accessible Adriatic beach. The forest walk between the archaeological park and the sea is extraordinary in morning light.
The Piadina Romagnola: Ravenna is in Emilia-Romagna, and the piadina (flatbread with squacquerone cheese, rocket, and prosciutto) is the street food of the Romagna coast. The best piadine in Ravenna: Piadina 60 (Via Mazzini 12, €3.50–5) and the stalls at the Mercato Coperto. Eating a piadina standing outside a kiosk in Ravenna in July is one of the most region-specific food experiences in Italy.
Day 1: Morning visit to Galla Placidia (timed entry, arrive 9:30am for the western light on the Shepherd mosaic) and Basilica di San Vitale (30-minute combined visit). Afternoon: Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (the best preserved narrative mosaic cycle, showing the Magi bringing gifts to the Virgin — 6th-century Christological narrative programme in 26 panels). Evening: Ravenna Festival concert at San Vitale (book in advance via ravennafestival.org, €25–60).
Day 2: Morning: Dante's tomb and the Basilica di San Francesco, then drive or bus to Sant'Apollinare in Classe (7km, the most spectacular exterior). Afternoon: the pine forest walk toward Marina di Ravenna. Piadina lunch at a kiosk near the Mercato Coperto.
The Ravenna Festival (ravennafestival.org) is an annual performing arts festival held in June and July in Ravenna, founded in 1990 by conductor Riccardo Muti. The festival programme includes opera, orchestral concerts, chamber music, and world music performed in Ravenna's Byzantine basilicas — particularly the Basilica di San Vitale (a 6th-century octagonal church with the Justinian and Theodora mosaic portraits) and Sant'Apollinare in Classe. Tickets: €25–60 depending on venue and programme. The combination of world-class musical performance in 1,500-year-old Byzantine architectural spaces is unique in Italy — the Ravenna Festival's setting is genuinely incomparable.
Ravenna's best mosaics in priority order: Mausoleo di Galla Placidia (425 AD — the night-sky ceiling vault and Good Shepherd lunette; the most emotionally powerful Byzantine mosaic experience in the world, worth the timed entry wait). Basilica di San Vitale (547 AD — the Justinian and Theodora imperial court portraits in the apse, the most historically important mosaics in Ravenna). Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (6th century — the 26-panel narrative mosaic of the Magi procession and the martyrs). Sant'Apollinare in Classe (7km from Ravenna, 549 AD — the most spectacular isolated basilica exterior in Italy, with the extraordinary Transfiguration apse mosaic). Combined ticket covers all eight UNESCO-designated sites for €12.
Ravenna is one of the most undervisited genuinely extraordinary cities in Italy. The combination of the 5th–6th century Byzantine mosaic cycle (unparalleled in western Europe outside Istanbul), Dante's actual tomb (versus Florence's cenotaph), the Ravenna Festival music programme in June–July, and the coastal pine forest-to-Adriatic landscape makes it one of Italy's most complete 2-day cultural destinations. From Bologna: 75 minutes by train (€7–12). From Venice: 2 hours by train. From Florence: 2.5 hours. Almost entirely free of international tourist crowds — the visitors are primarily Italian, German, and French. The mosaics of Galla Placidia and San Vitale alone justify the trip from anywhere in northern or central Italy.
Ravenna is most efficiently combined with a broader Emilia-Romagna or Adriatic itinerary. From Ravenna: Bologna (75 minutes by train — the best food city in Italy), Ferrara (40 minutes — the Renaissance Este court city and UNESCO d'Este fortifications), the Adriatic Riviera coast (Rimini, 45 minutes — for the beach contrast to the cultural intensity of Ravenna). A Ravenna–Ferrara–Bologna triangle by train covers three completely distinct Italian cultural traditions (Byzantine Ravenna, Renaissance Ferrara, medieval-gastronomic Bologna) in 3–4 days. Related: Bologna food guide, Italy guide.
Ravenna Festival tickets, mosaic circuit guided tours, Galla Placidia timed entry booking, and Emilia-Romagna itineraries.
La Redazione di TourLeaderPro.comBeyond the famous Italian festivals (Venice Carnival, Palio di Siena, the Rome Jazz Festival) there is a parallel calendar of events that receive almost no international tourist coverage and are significantly more interesting for the specific Italian cultural authenticity they represent:
La Sfilata dei Ceri, Gubbio (May 15): Three enormous wooden candles (ceri — each weighing 400kg, carried by teams of men) race through the streets of Gubbio in a tradition that has run continuously since 1160 AD. The event is one of Italy's oldest continuously held folk events. The physical exertion is genuine — the runners carry 400kg at pace through medieval streets — and the civic identity of Gubbio is entirely organised around which cero (San Ubaldo, San Giorgio, or Sant'Antonio) finishes first. Gubbio is 40km from Perugia; May 15 is the feast of Sant'Ubaldo. Free to watch from the streets. This is the most physically intense Italian folk event.
Sagra del Tordo, Montalcino (October): The annual thrush festival in Montalcino (the Brunello di Montalcino wine town) — medieval archery competition between the town's four quarters, followed by a feast of thrush-based dishes that are impossible to find anywhere else in Italy at any other time of year. October, last weekend. The archery competition is genuinely skilled and competitive; the subsequent feast in the town's fortezza is one of the most localised food experiences in Tuscany.
Palio dei Normanni, Piazza Armerina (August 12–14): Medieval jousting and historical pageant in the city of the Villa Romana del Casale mosaics (Piazza Armerina, Sicily — the 4th-century Roman villa with the most extensive floor mosaic programme in the world). The event recreates the Norman conquest of Sicily (11th century) with 600+ costumed participants. One of the most historically layered events in Italy: 21st-century Sicilians in 11th-century Norman costumes in a city built over a 4th-century Roman villa. The temporal stacking is specifically Italian.
Befana (January 6): The feast of the Epiphany is marked in Italy by the figure of Befana — a witch on a broomstick who brings gifts (or coal for naughty children) on the night of January 5–6. The tradition is older than Christmas gift-giving in Italian culture. Major Befana events: Piazza Navona in Rome (a traditional Befana fair runs from Christmas to January 6 with market stalls, candy coal, and a giant Befana puppet); Venice (Befana regattas on the Grand Canal). The most specifically Italian winter event, completely unknown to most non-Italian visitors.
Italy's most unusual traditional events that most international visitors don't know about: La Sfilata dei Ceri in Gubbio (May 15 — 400kg wooden candles carried at a run through medieval streets, 860-year-old tradition), the Sagra del Tordo in Montalcino (October — archery competition and thrush feast in a Brunello wine town), the Palio dei Normanni in Piazza Armerina (August — Norman conquest reenactment in a Sicilian mosaic city), and the Befana tradition (January 6 — the witch who brings Epiphany gifts, marked by fairs and regattas across Italy). All are free or low-cost and represent Italian folk culture at its most specific and least touristically mediated.
Beyond basic tourist phrases, these Italian expressions signal that you're engaging with the country rather than passing through it — and Italian people respond accordingly:
"Com'è fatto?" / "Come si fa?" (How is it made? / How do you make it?) — asked of a market vendor, a cheese seller, a pasta maker, or a restaurant owner. The Italian answer to this question is invariably detailed, enthusiastic, and reveals information about the product or dish that no guidebook contains. A trippaiolo in Florence asked "come si fa il lampredotto?" will spend 10 minutes explaining the specific cuts, the cooking time, the broth ingredients, and why nobody else does it correctly. This is genuinely more useful than any description of the dish you could read.
"Cosa consiglia lei?" / "Cosa mi dà oggi?" (What do you recommend? / What do you give me today?) — the second phrase is more informal and implies trust in the decision. At a fish counter, asking the fishmonger "cosa mi dà oggi?" grants them complete discretion to give you what's freshest. The same question at a small trattoria — "cosa mi dà oggi?" rather than asking to see the menu — signals that you're a serious eater who trusts the kitchen. The response is almost always the best thing available that day.
"Questo lo fate voi?" / "È artigianale?" (Do you make this yourself? / Is it artisanal/handmade?) — distinguishes between what's produced in-house and what's purchased. A bakery that makes its own bread, a salumeria that produces its own prosciutto, a wine bar that makes its own wine — the artisanal distinction matters and Italians make it constantly. Asking signals you care about the distinction.
"Quando è di stagione?" (When is it in season?) — asked of a restaurant or a market vendor about a specific ingredient. The answer tells you whether you're visiting at the right time for that product and demonstrates to the vendor that you understand the seasonal logic of Italian food. It's also simply useful information that changes what you order.
"È possibile assaggiare?" (Is it possible to taste?) — at a cheese shop, a salumeria, a wine shop, or an olive oil producer. In Italy, offering to taste before purchasing is standard commercial practice — the vendor expects it and a refusal to allow tasting is a sign that the product can't withstand scrutiny. Always ask.
The most useful Italian beyond tourist basics: "cosa consiglia?" (what do you recommend — at any restaurant, market, or shop), "com'è fatto?" (how is it made — unlocks detailed explanations from producers and vendors), "è di stagione?" (is it in season — shows you understand Italian food logic), "è possibile assaggiare?" (can I taste — standard practice at food shops), "cosa mi dà oggi?" (what do you give me today — grants the vendor discretion to offer the best available). These phrases signal genuine engagement rather than transaction-processing. Italians respond to genuine curiosity about their food and culture with a generosity that transforms the quality of any visit.