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RAVENNA
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RAVENNA , a See also:city and archiepiscopal see of See also:Emilia, See also:Italy, See also:capital of the See also:province of Ravenna, See also:standing in a marshy See also:plain 13 ft. above See also:sea-level, 6 m. from the sea and 45 M. by See also:rail See also:east of See also:Bologna. Pop. (1906) 35,543 (See also:town), 67,379 (See also:commune)—a considerable increase, as the See also:population of 1881 was only 34,270 (commune). The See also:industries are few, the growing of See also:wine, breeding of silkworms, making of agricultural See also:instruments, See also:printing and the manufacture of laces being the See also:chief. The town is connected with the sea by the See also:Corsini See also:Canal, the two small See also:rivers Ronco and Montone no longer serving as means of communication. Ravenna has railway communication with Bologna (via See also:Castel Bolognese), See also:Ferrara and See also:Rimini, and by See also:steam tram with Forli. At the mouth of the canal is a small See also:harbour. No other city in the See also:world offers so many and such striking examples of the ecclesiastical See also:architecture of the centuries from the 5th to the 8th. The See also:style is commonly called See also:Byzantine; —A 11. S. Vitale . I Julianus Argentarius about 530 12. S. Maria See also:Maggiore . See also:Bishop Ecciesius „
13. S. Apollinare in Classe Julianus Argentarius about 535
(The churches marked A. were originally erected for the
Arian See also:worship.)
Almost the only sacred See also:building previous to the 5th See also:century of which we have any See also:record is unfortunately lost. The See also:cathedral of Ravenna, built by S. Ursus in 370-390, which had a See also:nave and four aisles, was destroyed in 1734-44, only the (inaccessible) See also:crypt and the See also:round campanile remaining from the earlier structure; there are fragments of reliefs from a See also:pulpit erected by See also:Archbishop Agnellus (556-569) in the interior. A rare See also:work on the earlier See also: Giovanni Evangelista (425), of S. Agata (425-432), of the See also:chapel of S. See also:Pier Crisologo (433-449), of the See also:tomb of Galla Placidia (440), the church of S. Pier Maggiore (now S. See also:Francesco) (433-458), the See also:baptistery of Neon (449-458), S. Giovanni Battista and S. Croce. Rivoira, in the See also:book cited below, shows that many of the characteristic architectural details can be traced back to a classical and in particular a See also:Roman origin, and were not derived from the East, e.g. the use of See also:blind See also:arches as an See also:external decoration, and of See also:brick cornices with the points of the bricks projecting like the See also:teeth of a saw, the use of pulvini (cushions) above the capitals of columns and under the See also:spring of an See also:arch, &c. &c., the use of round arches springing See also:direct from these cushions, spherical pendentives, &c. Of this See also:group of churches, S. Giovanni Evangelista, erected by Galla Placidia in fulfilment of a See also:vow made on her voyage from See also:Constantinople, has been entirely rebuilt, though the columns are See also:ancient (the Corinthian capitals are probably from a classical building), and the crypt may be See also:original. The See also:Gothic portal is See also:fine, and the church contains a See also:mosaic See also:pavement of 1213 with curious representations and some frescoes by See also:Giotto, painted during a visit to See also:Dante between 1317 and 1320. S. Agata was almost entirely rebuilt in 1476-94. The serves its original mosaics, and so also does the tomb of Galla Placidia (SS. Nazario e Celso), a small structure in the See also:form of a Latin cross with a See also:dome (in which, as in the baptistery of Neon, the old cathedral, &c., the constructional use of amphorae is noteworthy), with a plain brick exterior, and See also:rich mosaics on a dark See also:blue ground within. The See also:sarcophagus of Galla Placidia has, like the two others that stand here, been despoiled of its contents. The See also:altar, like that at S. Vitale, is made of thin slabs of See also:alabaster, behind which lamps were intended to be placed. S. Francesco, as it has been called since 1261, when it came into the See also:possession of the See also:Franciscans, has been almost entirely modernized, except for the crypt and campanile (1th century). The baptistery adjacent to the cathedral was, according to See also:Ricci, originally See also:part of the Roman See also:baths, converted to a Christian baptistery by the Archbishop Neon (449–452), though according to other authorities it is a Christian building dating from before A.D. 396. It is an octagon, with a dome; in the interior are two arcades one above the other. The mosaics of the 5th century, in the dome, are the earliest and perhaps the finest at Ravenna for their splendid decorative effect and rich colouring, and are less stiff and conventional than the later mosaics. Of S. Giovanni Battista, also erected in this period, hardly anything remains after the restoration of 1683, and S. Croce has been overtaken by a similar See also:fate. After the death of Valentinian III. the activity in building for which Ravenna had been so remarkable suffered a check; but the reign of See also:Theodoric (493–526) marks another era of magnificence. In the eastern part of the city he built for himself a large See also:palace, which probably occupied about a See also:sixth of the space now enclosed within the city walls, or nearly the whole of the rectangle enclosed by Strada di Porta See also:Alberoni on the See also:south, Strada Nuova di Porta Serrata on the See also:west and the See also:line of the city walls on the See also:north and east. There still remains See also:close to the first-named See also:street and fronting the Corso See also:Garibaldi a high See also:wall built of square Roman bricks, with pillars and arched recesses in the upper portion, which goes by the name of Palazzo di Teodorico. See also:Freeman, on See also:account of the Romanesque See also:character of the architecture, thought it probable that it really belongs to the See also:time of the Lombard See also:kings, and his See also:opinion is shared by Ricci and Rivoira, who consider it to be a guardhouse erected by the exarchs, See also:recent explorations having made it clear that it was an addition to the palace, while mosaic pavements and an See also:atrium once surrounded by arcades really belonging to the latter were found in 187o behind S. Apollinare Nuovo and in 1908 behind the so-called Palazzo at a See also:lower level and a different See also:orientation. A mosaic in the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo gives some faint See also:idea of the palace. A more memorable and clearly See also:authentic See also:monument of Theodoric is furnished by his tomb, a massive See also:mausoleum which stands still perfect outside the walls near the north-east corner of the city. It is circular internally and decagonal externally, in two storeys, built of marble blocks, and surmounted by an enormous monolith, brought from the quarries of See also:Istria and weighing more than 300 tons. The See also:plan is no doubt derived from that of a Roman tomb. In this mausoleum Theodoric was buried, but his See also:body was See also:cast forth from it, perhaps during the troublous times of the See also:siege of Ravenna by the imperial troops, and the Rotunda (as it is now generally called) was converted into a church dedicated to the Virgin. S. Apollinare Nuovo, the most important basilica in the town, was built by Theodoric to be the largest of Arian churches, and originally called S. Martino in Coelo Aureo (a name which it lost in the 9th century). The exterior is uninteresting, and the church lost both atrium and See also:apse in the 16th century. The interior has twenty-four columns of marble (from Constantinople according to some, from See also:Rome according to others), with almost See also:uniform capitals. The walls of the nave are adorned with mosaics of the 6th century; the scenes from the New Testament above the windows date from the time of Theodoric, while the See also:saints on the other, are substitutions of the latter See also:half of the 6th century for representations which probably contained some allusion to Arianism or episodes in the See also:life of Theodoric (so Ricci). The mosaics have been in parts much restored; but the earlier ones still show, like those which preceded them in Ravenna, classical forms, variety of treatment and freedom of colouring, while the processions are monotonous and inferior in See also:execution, intended rather to produce a decorative effect than beauty of form. The pulpit appears to be of Byzantine origin (Rivoira). The campanile (850–878) is circular, and has perhaps the earliest example of the use of disks of coloured See also:majolica as a decoration. This, like the other campanili of Ravenna, is later than the church to which it belongs. Those of the cathedral of S. Apollinare in Classe, S. Maria Maggiore and S. Agata, also circular, probably belong also to the 9th century, while the two square campanili of S. Giovanni Evangelista and S. Francesco probably belong to the early 11th century. The other churches erected by Theodoric are: S. Teodoro (or S. Spirito), erected by Theodoric for the Arian bishops, but entirely modified: the baptistery of this church (afterwards the See also:oratory of S. Maria in Cosmedin) formed out of the octagonal See also: Vittore, which has suffered a similar fate. To the same period probably belong a few columns of the so-called Basilica of Heracles in the Piazza See also:Vittorio Emanuele, with capitals like those of S. Apollinare in Classe. The impulse given by Theodoric was continued by his successors, and during the regency of See also:Amalasuntha and the reigns of Theodatus and Vitiges (526–539), S. Vitale and S. Apollinare in Classe were constructed by See also:Julius Argentarius contemporaneously with S. Lorenzo in See also:Milan and the cathedral of See also:Parenzo—also S. Michele in Africisco, nothing of the original structure of which now exists. The former, well restored by Ricci in 1898–1900 (except for the dome with its See also:baroque frescoes which has not been altered), is a See also:regular octagon, with a See also:vestibule, originally flanked by two towers on the west, a See also:choir added on the east, triangular outside and circular within; it is surrounded within by two galleries interrupted at the See also:presbytery, and supported by eight large pillars, the intervals between which are occupied by open exedrae. The mosaics of the choir (547) are due to Justinian, and, though inferior in style, are remarkable for their splendour of colouring and the gorgeous dresses of the persons represented, and also for their See also:historical See also:interest, especially the scenes representing the emperor and the empress See also:Theodora presenting offerings. The marble screens of the altar are wonderfully finely carved. The marble mosaic pavement (11th century) is very effective. Remains of the original marble wall lining and See also:stucco decoration also exist. The capitals are, in the lower See also:order, the characteristic See also:funnel-shaped rectangular Byzantine capitals, some of them with open work, bearing cushions; this is a type probably derived from the See also:cushion itself, and See also:developed in the East about the second half of the 5th century. The architecture of S. Vitale (for plan see ARCHITECTURE, See also:sect. Early Christian), according to Rivoira, was inspired not by See also:Byzantium, where similar churches—S. See also:Sofia and SS. Sergio and Bacco—are slightly later in date, but by the churches of See also:Salonica (A.D. 495), while the plan is derived from a Christian baptistery, or from such a building as the so-called See also:temple of See also:Minerva Medica at Rome. S. Apollinare in Classe, erected at the same time outside the walls of Classis, and now standing by itself in the lonely marshes, is the largest basilica existing at Ravenna. It has a nave and aisles with a closed vestibule on the west, and a fine round campanile of the 9th (?) century. The exterior brick walls are divided by shallow arches and pilasters, as in other churches of Ravenna. It has twenty-four columns of Carystian (cipollino) marble, with capitals probably of Byzantine work with swelling 924 RAVENNA See also:acanthus leaves; but the See also:rest of the church is due to native architects. The lofty presbytery and the crypt under it belong to the 12th century. The walls of the interior were stripped of their marble panelling by Sigismondo Malatesta in 1449, for the adornment of his church at Rimini. The apse has mosaics of the 6th and 7th centuries. The 18th-century See also:series of portraits of the archbishops of Ravenna is no doubt copied from an earlier original. There are a number of fine carved sarcophagi in the church (5th to 8th century). The building activity of the Gothic kings was continued by Justinian, to whose time we owe the completion of S. Vitale and S. Apollinare in Classe, and some of the mosaics in S. Appollinare Nuovo. The buildings of a subsequent period are of See also:minor importance, but the basilica of S. Maria in See also:Porto near the ancient harbour (1096 sqq.), a basilica with open roof, with frescoes by masters of the Rimini school, may be noticed. The massive See also:concrete substructures of the campanile are attributed to an old lighthouse. The tomb of Dante, who died at Ravenna in 1321, is close to S. Francesco; it is a square-domed structure, with a See also:relief by Pietro See also:Lombardo (1482) representing the poet, and a sarcophagus below, in an See also:urn within which See also:lie the poet's remains. Close by is a small See also:court with early Christian sarcophagi, containing the remains of the Braccioforte See also:family. The secularized monastery of Classe, in the town, built by the monks of S. Apollinare in Classe in 155 sqq. as a See also:refuge from the See also:malaria, which prevailed at Classe itself, with fine 17th-century cloisters, contains the important museum, which has Roman and Byzantine antiquities, See also:inscriptions, sculptures, See also:jewelry, &c.—including the possible remains of a suit of See also:gold See also:armour of Theodoric—and a collection of See also:Italian woodcuts; also the library with rare See also:MSS. and See also:incunabula (among the former the best extant MS. of See also:Aristophanes). The Accademia, close by, has a few pictures by See also:local masters, e.g. N. Rondinelli (end of 15th century), of no great importance, and a fine recumbent statue of Guidarello Guidarelli, a condottiero of Ravenna, and a See also:partisan of See also:Caesar See also:Borgia (d. 1501), by Tullio Lombardo (?) or Severo da Ravenna (?). In the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele are two See also:granite columns erected by the Venetians, in 1483, with statues of SS. See also:Apollinaris and Vitalis. The cloisters of S. Maria di Porto erected in the town in the 16th century (owing to malaria, as in the See also:case of those of Classe), and of S. Vitale, are pleasing 16th-century structures. The 15th-century See also:castle in the north-east corner of the town erected by the Venetians is a picturesque brick building. The famous pinata or pinewood of Ravenna, which already existed in See also:Odoacer's time, and has been sung by poets since Dante, lies some 5 M. south of Ravenna. See also:History.—See also:Strabo mentions a tradition that Ravenna was founded by Thessalians, who afterwards, finding themselves pressed by the Etrurians, called in their Umbrian neighbours and eventually departed, leaving the city to their See also:allies. See also:Pliny, on the other See also:hand, calls it See also:Sabine. Throughout the valley of the Po the Gauls took the See also:place of the Etrurians as a conquering See also:power; but Ravenna may possibly have retained its Umbrian character until, about the See also:year 191 B.C., by the See also:conquest of the See also:Boii, the whole of this region passed definitely under the dominion of Rome. Either as a colonia or a See also:municipium, Ravenna remained for more than two centuries an inconsiderable city of Gallia Cisalpina, chiefly noticeable as the place in which Caesar during his ten years' command in See also:Gaul frequently resorted in order to confer with his See also:friends from Rome, and from which he started for his advance into Italy. At length under See also:Augustus it suddenly See also:rose into importance, when that emperor selected it as the station for his See also:fleet on " the upper sea." Two See also:hundred and fifty See also:ships, said See also:Dion (in a lost passage quoted by Jordanes), could ride at See also:anchor in its harbour. At the same time Augustus conducted a See also:branch of the Po (the fossa See also:Augusta) through the city into the sea. It also became important for the export of See also:timber from the See also:Alps. Strabo, See also:writing probably a few years after Ravenna had been thus selected as a See also:naval See also:arsenal, gives us a description of its See also:appearance which certainly corresponds more closely with See also:modern See also:Venice than with modern Ravenna. " It is the largest of all the cities built in the lagoons, but entirely composed of wooden houses, penetrated in all directions by canals, wherefore See also:bridges and boats are needed for the wayfarer. At the flow of the See also:tide a large part of the sea comes sweeping into it; and thus, while all the muddy See also:deposit of the rivers is swept away, the malaria is at the same time removed, and by this means the city enjoys so See also:good a sanitary reputation that the See also:government has fixed on it as a place for the reception and training of See also:gladiators." On the other hand, good See also:water was proverbially difficult to obtain at Ravenna—dearer than wine, says See also:Martial, who has two epigrams on the subject. See also:Trajan, however, built an See also:aqueduct nearly 20 See also:miles See also:long, which was restored by Theodoric in 503. Of this some traces still exist in the See also:bed of the Ronco above Ravenna. Flies and frogs were also complained of, and Sidonius, writing in the 5th century, complains bitterly of the " feculent gruel " (cloacails puls) which filled the canals of the city, and gave forth fetid odours when stirred by the poles of the bargemen. The See also:port of Ravenna, situated about 3 miles from the city, was named Classis. A long line of houses called Caesarea connected it with Ravenna, and in See also:process of time there was such a continuous series of buildings that the three towns seemed like one. It was a municipium under the See also:Empire, as the inscriptions show, but it seems to have had magistrates rather suited to a vicus or See also:village, its importance being due entirely to the naval station (cf. the See also:state of things at See also:Mediolanum, Milan). It had large See also:gilds of fabri (smiths and carpenters) and centonarii (firemen). Of Roman Ravenna nothing remains above ground, though a little has been found by excavation, including a mosaic pavement at Classe. near S. Severo (Ricci, op. cit. p. 50). Among the tombs many of the poorer under the Empire were simply formed of amphorae, in which the body was placed. A pre-historic station was found in 1894 at S. Zaccaria near Ravenna, belonging to a Terramare (E. Brizio in Notisie degli Scavi, 1896, 85). In A.D. 339 it is spoken of as having previously been the chief town of See also:Picenum, but having recently been assigned to Aemilia. It was connected with See also:Ariminum, 33 miles to the south by the See also:coast road, the Via Popillia, which ran on north to Hatria, and joined the road between See also:Patavium and See also:Altinum at Ad Portum. The great historical importance of Ravenna begins early in the 5th century, when See also:Honorius, alarmed by the progress of See also:Alaric in the north of Italy, transferred his court hither. From this date (404) to the fall of the Western Empire in 476 Ravenna was the chief residence of the Roman emperors. Here See also:Stilicho was slain; here Honorius and his See also:sister Placidia caressed and quarrelled; here Valentinian III. spent the greater part of his life; here See also:Majorian was proclaimed; here the little See also:Romulus donned his See also:purple robe; here in the pinewood' outside the city his See also:uncle See also:Paulus received his decisive defeat from Odoacer. Through all these changes Ravenna maintained its character as an impregnable " city is the sea," not easily to be attacked even by a naval power on account of the shallowness and devious nature of the channels by which it had to be approached. Odoacer, like the emperors who had gone before him, made Ravenna his chief place of residence, and here he shut himself up when Theodoric the Ostrogoth had invaded Italy and defeated him in two battles. Theodoric's siege of Ravenna lasted for three years (489-492), and was marked by one bloody encounter in the pinewood on the east of it. The Ostrogoth collected a fleet and established a severe See also:blockade, which at length caused Odoacer to surrender the city. The terms, arranged through the intervention of John, archbishop of Ravenna, were not observed by
1 The great pinewood to the east of the city, which is still one of the great glories of Ravenna, must therefore have been in existence already in the 5th century. See also:Byron's description,
" [The] immemorial See also:wood
Rooted where once the See also:Adrian See also:wave flowed o'er,"
is probably true; but there is no See also:evidence that it was in historic time that this See also:change took place. It may be conjectured that the Pineta See also:grew on a large See also:peninsula somewhat resembling the Lido of Venice.
Theodoric, who, ten days after his entry into the city, slew his See also:rival at a banquet in the palace of the See also:Laurel See also: In 728 the Lombard king Luitprand took and destroyed the suburb Classis; about 752 the city itself See also:fell into the hands of his successor Aistulf, from whom a few years after it was wrested by See also:Pippin, king of the See also:Franks. By this time the alteration of the coast-line and the filling up of the lagoons had probably commenced, and no historical importance attaches to its subsequent fortunes. It formed part of the Frankish king's donation to the See also:pope in the See also:middle of the 8th century, though the archbishops, as a fact, retained almost See also:independent power. It was an independent See also:republic, generally taking the See also:Guelph See also:side in the 13th century, subject to rulers of the See also:house of Polentani in the 14th, Venetian in the 15th (1441), and papal again in the 16th,—Pope Julius II. having succeeded in wresting it from the hands of the Venetians. St Romuald and St See also:Peter Damian were both natives of Ravenna. From this time (1509) down to our own days, except for the interruptions caused by the See also:wars of the See also:French Revolution, Ravenna.continued subject to the papal see and was governed by a See also:cardinal See also:legate. In 1849 Garibaldi's wife Anita, who had accompanied him on his See also:retreat from Rome, succumbed to fatigue in the marshes near Ravenna. In 1859 it was one of the first cities to give its See also:vote in favour of Italian unity, and it has since then formed a part of the See also:kingdom of Italy.
See also: The French were victorious, but Gaston fell in the See also:act of pursuing the enemy. His death is commemorated by the See also:Colonna dei Francesi erected on the spot where he fell. Lord Byron resided at Ravenna for eighteen months in 1820-21, attracted by the charms of the Countess Guiccioli.
Battle of 15ra.—This battle, one of the See also:principal events of the long Italian wars of Charles VIII., See also: In the centre were 8000 French infantry (the ancestors of the later Picardie and See also:Piedmont regiments) under the seigneur de Molart, and 5000 Italian infantry. On the left were the light horse. A reserve of 600 gendarmes under La Palisse was behind the centre. The battle opened with a prolonged cannonade from the Spanish lines. For three See also:hours the professional regiments of all sorts in the French lines rivalled one another in enduring the See also:fire unmoved, the forerunners of the military systems of to-See also:day, landsknechts, Picardie and Piedmont, showing the feudal See also:gendarmerie that they too were men of See also:honour. There was no lying down. The captains placed themselves in the front, and in the centre 38 out of 40 of them were struck down. Molart and Empser, drinking each other's See also:health in the midst of the cannonade, were killed by the same shot. Sheltered behind the entrenchments, the Spaniards scarcely suffered, for they were lithe active troops accustomed to lie down and spring up from the ground. But after three hours, Pescara's light horse having meantime been driven in by the See also:superior light horse of the enemy, the artillery-loving duke of Ferrara conceived the brilliant plan of taking his mobile field-guns to the extreme right of the enemy. This he did, and so came in sight of the prone masses of the Spaniards. Disciplined troops as they were, they resisted the temptation to See also:escape Ferrara's fire by breaking out to the front; but the whole Spanish line was enfiladed, and on the left of it the papal troops, who were by no means of the same quality, filled up the ditch in front of their breastworks and charged forward, followed by all the gendarmerie. Once in the plain they were charged by the French gendarmes under Gaston himself, as well as by the landsknechts, and driven back. The See also:advantage of position being thus lost, the Spanish infantry rose and flung itself on the attackers; the landsknechts and the French bands were disordered by the fury of the counterstroke, being unaccustomed to See also:deal with the See also:swift, leaping, and crouching attack of swords-men with bucklers. But La Palisse's reserve wheeled in upon the See also:rear of the Spaniards, and they retreated to the entrenchments as fast as they had advanced. The papal infantry, the gendarmes, and the light horse had already vanished from the field in disorder; but the Spanish regulars were of different mettle, and it was only after a long struggle that the landsknechts and the French bands See also:broke into the entrenchments. A See also:captain of landsknechts, See also:Fabian by name, holding his long See also:pike crosswise, brought it down with all his force upon the opposing spears, and at the cost of his life made a narrow See also:gap through which the French broke into the See also:mass of the enemy. Still the conflict continued, but at last La Palisse, with all the gendarmerie still in hand, rode completely round the entrenchments and charged the Spaniards' rear again. This was the end, but the remnant of the Spanish infantry retreated in order along the river See also:causeway, keeping the pursuers at See also:bay with their arquebuses. Gaston de Foix, recklessly charging into the midst of them, was killed. (C. F. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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