We were feeling very smug about our ability to buy a train ticket from the Kiosk. This time we got to the “insert your money” part and we could not find the damn money slot. Here we were, 7 AM, no coffee, trying to stuff a 20 Euro bill into every conceivable section of this machine. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I noticed a blinking green light in the machine next to ours: THE CASH TAKING MACHINE! We didn’t have a separate cash taking machine the last time. Oh well, we were humbled and got our tickets. We had to double check the track our train was leaving from because it was a little 3 car number, looking vintage 1950. That was it. Arnie said it sounded like it was continuously trying to find second gear, but it gave us a nice slow look at the country side between Florence and Emilia-Romagna (the region that Ravenna is in). We left Tuscan rolling hills, went through long tunnels, emerged into ravines with steep mountains that reminded Arnie of Vermont and then open plains that Arnie said looked like Kansas, but with grape vines instead corn fields.
It was drizzling when we arrived then it started to rain. We headed to the Tourist Information office, not terribly close to the train station, and found a very helpful woman. She not only gave us maps but marked the maps with restaurants for lunch. I really liked her because she complemented my Italian. I think she was just relieved that she didn’t have to speak English.
Our guide books are woefully inadequate in describing the phenomenal mosaics of Ravenna. Here’s what little we learned: Ravenna was the capital of the Roman Empire 1500 years ago. So, they had some beautiful Roman Villas. Then, the Byzantines conquered it in the 6th century. Our first stop was the Basilica di San Vitale, built in 547 AD. I could not begin to describe the beauty of these mosaics or the serenity of the octagonal church. The mosaics are tiny fragments put together to make shimmering pictures. Breathtaking.
Next we went into the tiny Mausoleo di Galla Placida. This is about 100 years older than the Basilica. Galla Placidia was the sister of the Roman Emperor Honorius and she got one fabulous tomb. These mosaics are in midnight blue and glimmering gold. A German tour guide was describing them in great detail, to no avail for us. Breathtaking. (See Above)
From Byzantine Ravenna we went back in time to Roman Ravenna. Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra is a Roman Villa uncovered in 1993. The floor mosaics are unbelievable. The Villa was thought to belong to a Roman statesman and the audio guide never explained why it was buried and unknown for almost 1,500 years. Again, breathtaking. (see above)
After a short visit to Dante’s tomb, it was lunchtime. We thought Dante was buried in Florence but he was banned for some transgression and died in Ravenna. Florence forgave him and wanted his bones back, but Ravenna told them if he was not good enough in life, they couldn’t have him in death.
We made our lunch choice based on proximity to our last cultural event before realizing it was lunch time. Locanda del Melarancio, via Mentana 33, won the lunch lottery. There was casual dining downstairs and we opted for the more comfortable upstairs. Arnie started with a delicious penne with speck (bacon like stuff), grilled radicchio and tomatoes and I had the asparagus soup. The penne was really good, you couldn’t taste the grilled radicchio but the speck added a lot of flavor. My soup had big chunks of fat asparagus and a drizzle of truffle oil. It was very comforting on a rainy day. We ran into a little menu dialect issue that led to Arnie’s choice for a second course. The menu listed a fesa of beef as a special. We thought it would be some unknown part, maybe even a nasty bit, but it was in a balsamic reduction and balsamic vinegar is made in the Emilia-Romagna, so how bad could it be? Fetta is the Italian word for a slice. It turns out that fesa is dialect for “slice”; Arnie had sliced roast beef with a balsamic reduction. It was very good. I had something a bit more interesting: boned lamb chop wrapped in rabbit with bits of prune and fennel, in a prune sauce. It was really good. We needed our strength to continue our journey, so we had the ricotta soufflé with chocolate sauce. (While at lunch I got a welcome cell phone call that the perfume I ordered had arrived: that will be the next blog entry.) Fortified, we continued to our last mosaics.
Sant’Apollinare Nuovo was built in the mid 500’s . The left side of the church was reserved for women so the mosaics above that side depict 22 virgins. Why virgins, I don’t know. The mosaics above the right side, the men;s side, depict 26 martyrs. Whatever the theme, they were, again breathtaking.
We did not have time to take the bus out of town to see Sant’Apollinare in Casse and we missed seeing a few other things on our tourist map before catching the 5:45PM train home. That got us to Florence by 8:15. A long, full day.
Here is the link to the Ravenna pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/25519767@N06/7F507N
Here’s the official website to Ravenna if you want more info:
http://www.turismo.ra.it/
