Ravenna offers visitors many opportunities to discover its thousand-year history. The well-known UNESCO monuments, which preserve mosaics dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries, are complemented by a series of interesting museum collections detailing the different phases of Ravenna’s history.
The National Museum of Ravenna, located in what was once the Benedictine monastery of San Vitale, holds important archaeological finds, collections of ceramics, ivories, bronzes and coins, as well as icons and stone objects from the city’s monuments. The museum also preserves interesting frescoes from the former church of Santa Chiara, now the Luigi Rasi Theatre. The paintings, dating back to the 14th century, are attributed to Pietro da Rimini, a Giottesque painter whose fresco is one of his most important works.
The M.A.R., the Art Museum of the City of Ravenna, is housed in the 16th century building that was once the site of the monastery of Santa Maria in Porto, erected next to the basilica of the same name. The collections of the Ravenna Art Museum contain works from the period between the 14th and 21st centuries. The museum is particularly known for its collection of Contemporary Mosaics by artists such as Renato Guttuso, Marc Chagall, Emilio Vedova and Georges Mathieu, to name but a few. The 20th century is also documented with works by artists such as Mario Schifano, Alighiero Boetti, Carla Accardi and Emilio Greco. Up to recent years with works by Banksy and Alessandro Cattelan. The sepulchral slab of Guidarello Guidarelli, immortalised by Tullio Lombardo’s sculptural work, also celebrated by Gabriele D’Annunzio, is also preserved here.
The Museum and the Dante House, both located within the so-called ‘Dantean Area’, preserve commemorative objects and memorabilia donated to the city of Ravenna, Dante Alighieri’s last refuge, as well as multimedia spaces to retrace the poet’s life, and artefacts. Also on display are some 19th-century paintings on loan from the Uffizi Galleries in Florence.
At the Classis Museum – Museum of the City and Territory, located close to the old port, it is possible to trace the origins of the ancient settlement of Ravenna. Thanks to the evocative museum tour, equipped with explanatory maps an boards, you can understand the evolution of the territory and the importance of the city in ancient times. You can admire the collection of archaeological finds that illustrate the history of Ravenna from its Etruscan and Umbrian origins to Roman antiquity, later highlighting the Gothic and Byzantine phases and the early Middle Ages.
The Risorgimento Museum and the Byron Museum, scheduled to open in spring 2024, will be housed in the 17th-century Palazzo Guiccioli, located in the heart of the city. Several historical and cultural documentary items from the Classense Library in Ravenna are displayed in the gallery.
Please contact me to arrange your tour of Ravenna.