Ravenna holds about 160,000 people on the flat coastal plain of Emilia-Romagna, a few kilometres inland from the Adriatic, and it contains the finest collection of early Christian and Byzantine mosaic anywhere in the world. UNESCO inscribed eight separate monuments here in 1996. The reason is historical accident: Ravenna was capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402, then of Theodoric's Ostrogothic kingdom, then the seat of Byzantine power in Italy, and each of those three regimes decorated it.
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What that means in practice is that a modest provincial city contains interiors that stop people mid-sentence. The Basilica of San Vitale has an apse of Justinian and Theodora in gold and green, made in the 540s. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia next to it is a small cruciform brick building whose vault is a deep blue field of gold stars, and it is generally reckoned the single most beautiful room in Italy. Sant'Apollinare Nuovo has processions of saints along both nave walls. Sant'Apollinare in Classe, out of town, has a green apse of astonishing calm.
Dante died here in 1321, exiled from Florence, and is buried beside the Basilica of San Francesco. Florence has asked for him back repeatedly and Ravenna has declined, repeatedly.
Two practical notes. The mosaics are dark interiors, so timing and lighting matter, and a combined ticket covers most of the monuments. And Ravenna is flat, cycled everywhere, and nine kilometres from a long run of Adriatic beach.
This guide covers the monuments, the city, the Po valley climate, safety and the full packing list.
The Eight Monuments, and How to See Them
Buy the combined ticket, start early, and do not try to see all eight in one day.
A single cumulative ticket covers San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Neonian Baptistery and the Archiepiscopal Museum with its ivory throne. Entry to Galla Placidia is timed and limited to a few minutes per group in high season, because the room is tiny and the crowds are large, so go at opening.
Sant'Apollinare in Classe is five kilometres south and reachable by bus, bicycle or a short train hop, and it is worth the trip: a vast quiet basilica beside the site of the old Roman port, with far fewer visitors than the city-centre monuments. The Arian Baptistery, the Mausoleum of Theodoric and the Chapel of Sant'Andrea complete the eight.
The mosaics are lit but dim, and the gold reads differently depending on where the sun is, so late morning in San Vitale and earlier at Sant'Apollinare Nuovo generally work best. Bring nothing that needs a flash, because flash is not permitted.
Beyond the UNESCO list, Dante's tomb and the adjacent Zona del Silenzio are free and quiet, the Piazza del Popolo is the Venetian-styled centre of civic life, and the covered market is the place to eat at lunchtime. The MAR museum holds contemporary mosaic, which is a living craft here rather than only a historical one.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Coast, the Delta and the Bicycles
Ravenna is flat, which makes a bicycle the natural way to get around and opens up the coast and the wetlands.
Bicycles are cheap to hire and the city has a network of lanes. Marina di Ravenna and Punta Marina are the town's own beaches, about nine kilometres east, with the long Adriatic strand of pine-backed sand that runs most of the Romagna coast, and the ride out is easy and flat.
North and south, the Po Delta Park is a major wetland: lagoons, salt pans, reed beds and a great deal of birdlife including flamingos. The Pineta San Vitale, a historic coastal pine forest, sits between the city and the sea and is where Byron rode when he lived here. Comacchio, up the coast, is the usual base for the delta proper.
Food is Romagnolo rather than Emilian: piadina flatbread wrapped around squacquerone cheese and rocket, cappelletti in brodo, grilled Adriatic fish, and Sangiovese and Albana from the hills inland.
When to Go, and the Po Valley Climate
April to June and September to October are the comfortable months. Winter fog and summer mosquitoes are the two things nobody mentions.
This is the same flat river-basin climate as Ferrara and Bologna, and it produces two distinctive conditions. From November to February the plain holds dense fog for days, temperatures sit near freezing, and the damp cold feels considerably worse than the figure. It is atmospheric in the Zona del Silenzio and genuinely unpleasant on a bicycle.
Summer, July and August, is hot, humid and still, in the low thirties, and the standing water of the delta and the lagoons means mosquitoes are a real nuisance from June to September, particularly at dusk and near the pine forest. August is also when the Adriatic coast fills with Italian holidaymakers, so the beaches are packed and prices rise, while the city itself stays relatively manageable.
Spring and autumn avoid both problems and are when the mosaics are best visited, with fewer tour groups and comfortable cycling weather. The Ravenna Festival, in June and July, brings serious opera and classical music, some of it staged in the basilicas.
Is Ravenna Safe for Women Travelers
Ravenna is a quiet, prosperous provincial city and a very easy place to travel alone.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Italy. Its guidance concentrates on petty theft in crowded tourist areas and on the ZTL, the limited traffic zones in historic centres that catch drivers out with automatic fines months after the trip.
There is no district a visitor needs to avoid. The centre is small, well lit and busy in the evening, and the main risk is petty theft around the station and the monuments in high season. Bicycle theft, on the other hand, is common, so use the lock properly every time you leave one.
The practical hazards are cycling and weather. Ravenna's cyclists are numerous and do not always travel in the expected direction, so look properly before stepping off a kerb. On a bicycle, the ride out to the coast crosses busier roads, and winter fog reduces visibility outside the centre to very little, which is the most genuinely dangerous condition here. Make sure a hired bicycle has working lights.
At the beach, the Adriatic here is shallow, calm and lifeguarded in season, which makes it among the safer Italian coasts for swimming, though jellyfish appear some years.
Healthcare is excellent and the reciprocal arrangements are worth understanding before you need them. A UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident, which is not the same as free and does not cover repatriation or a private clinic. Travel insurance sits on top of it rather than instead of it.
The Ravenna Packing List
Base layers, for a damp continental cold
Po valley winter is a wet cold rather than a dry one, and that is precisely where merino beats cotton by the widest margin: it keeps insulating when damp and handles the swing between a foggy street and an overheated cafe. It also copes with the specific Ravenna pattern of moving between cold stone interiors and warm streets a dozen times a day. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron and 160gsm with no synthetic blend, and a merino wool base layer for women is the right foundation from October through April.
Mid layer
A fleece mid layer for the fog months and for an evening ride to the coast in spring or autumn. The basilicas are also colder inside than out in winter, which people notice after twenty minutes of looking up.
Rain and wind
A packable rain jacket for women. It earns its place most on a bicycle, where wind chill on the flat open road to Marina di Ravenna is noticeably colder than in the streets.
Footwear
Walking shoes with grip for the worn stone of the centre and for standing still on hard floors, which is most of what you do in eight monuments. They also work on a hired bicycle. Merino wool socks for the damp.
Mosquitoes, a real Po valley problem
From June to September a DEET based repellent is worth packing rather than buying on arrival. The delta wetlands and the coastal pine forest are the source, and the evenings are when it matters, especially if you eat outside.
The small things
A merino wool beanie from November to March, which on a bicycle in fog is not optional. A scarf, since shoulders should be covered in the basilicas, which are working churches as well as monuments. And binoculars if the delta birdlife interests you.
Essential Resources for Women in Ravenna
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Non-emergency police: the Carabinieri on 112 and the Polizia di Stato on 113. A theft must be reported in person for the denuncia your insurer will require, including a stolen bicycle.
Tourist police: no separate force.
Main hospital or clinic: the Ospedale Santa Maria delle Croci in Ravenna, with a 24 hour emergency department, run by AUSL Romagna, auslromagna.it
Official health authority: the Italian Ministry of Health, salute.gov.it
US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Official tourism authority: Emilia-Romagna Turismo, emiliaromagnaturismo.it, and italia.it
Solo women safety assessment: Ravenna is one of the easier cities in Italy to visit alone. It is small, flat, prosperous and quiet, the centre is well lit and populated into the evening, and there is no area to avoid. Petty theft around the station and the monuments in high season is the only meaningful crime concern, with the exception of bicycles, which are stolen constantly and should be locked properly every single time. The genuine hazards are traffic of a particular kind and weather. This is a cycling city, riders are numerous and frequently coming from the direction you do not expect, so look before stepping into a lane. If you cycle to the coast you will cross busier roads. Winter fog on the plain is the seriously dangerous condition: visibility outside the centre drops to almost nothing, so avoid cycling out of town after dark in it and check that a hired bicycle has working lights. From June to September mosquitoes from the delta and the coastal pine forest are a real nuisance at dusk. The Adriatic beaches here are shallow, calm and lifeguarded in season, which makes them among the safer Italian coasts for swimming alone.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Italy travel guide for women. For why merino beats cotton in a damp continental cold, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
