Ravenna and Verona

As part of our orientation package, the Brown in Bologna program organizes a few excursions to nearby Italian cities complete with guided tours and reservations at delicious restaurants. In this post I will describe the two important and historic cities we have visited so far: first Ravenna, and then Verona. This should really be two separate posts, but I'm going to do it all together. All photos included are from my own camera!

Ravenna

Ravenna was a city that flourished back in Roman times, but it's real historical significance comes from the fact that it served as the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402-476 AD. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, King Theodoric the Great of the Ostrogoths ruled over Italy from Ravenna. In the 6th century, Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian retook Ravenna and the rest of Italy from the Ostrogoths and attempted to obliterate them from all memory. Today the city is famous for its dazzling and numerous mosaics, which tell volumes about the history of late Rome and early Christianity.

Pictured above is the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. The church is renown for its mosaics, which initially depicted various scenes from Christianity mingled with images of Theodoric and his court. After Justinian took over, he had his men remove all of the Ostrogoth images from the mosaics and replace them with more pictures of saints...or curtains. If you look at the middle and right images above, you can see that at one time there were people depicted standing in each one of the archways were but removed and replaced with black tiles and curtains. Whoever did this job, however, neglected to do anything about the disembodied hands that you can still see overlapping with the columns!










Another interesting fact about Ravenna is that in Roman times, it was a port city. Now, Ravenna is 10 km off the coast. It has also sunk 1-2 meters over the past 2000 years. This is highly evident in some of the old churches, which over time have built new floors at higher elevation because the original floors are underwater! In the photo above at left, you can see that the ordinary water level sits above the original floor. You might wonder, as I did, how people can just raise the floor of a whole church. Above at right is a comparison of the past and present in the Church of San Francesco, and you can see that they actually cut new, higher arches into the interior walls of the church, so that they could raise up the columns without changing their height and without touching the ceiling.

The tomb of Dante Alighieri, Father of the Modern Italian language, author of the Divine Commedy! Dante was not from Ravenna, but he did die there, because he was exiled from Florence on some fraudulent charges of corrupt practices. His bones have been relocated 4 times over the ages. Ravenna monks once moved his bones to the adjacent courtyard to prevent the Florentines from getting him back. He was later rediscovered and returned to his tomb, only to be moved back and forth again to protect him during the bombings of World War II. Poor poet.



Above is a beautiful mosaic from the Church of San Vitale, depicting scenes from the life of Abraham. Below is my favorite mosaic of Ravenna, from the Baptistery of Neon. Depicted is an innocent enough looking scene from the baptism of Jesus by St. John the Baptist in the River Jordan. If you look to the right, however, you can see a random pagan river god hanging out in the background!


The verdict on Ravenna was that it's a lovely historical city - but, although it might have been exciting back when the Ostrogoths were invading, it's sort of a sleepy peaceful little town nowadays.









left: political protests in the main piazza / right: shopping district

Verona

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.










The city of Verona is hands-down the most beautiful part of Italy that I have visited so far this semester. Everybody knows that Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona, but few people see just how enchanting and impressive Verona is. Looking over every street are rows of colorful old buildings, vines hanging from their balconies. Verona is nestled in a loop of the Adige River (above), the second longest river in Italy. The city's trademark pink marble, or marmo rosa, is ubiquitous, forming the churches, palaces, monuments, streets, sidewalks, and even the gutters! The city's wealth and power in the early Middle Ages, when it dominated over a large portion of northern Italy, is very evident. Today, the city's two largest exports are its marble and its delicious wines: Amarone, Valpolicella, and Soave.










The first place we visited in Verona was called Piazza Bra....seriously. It is the site of the Roman Arena where the Veronesi watched animals kill animals in the morning, animals kill people around lunch, and people kill people later in the afternoon. What fun.

Shopping district. Note: street paved with marble.

The next big attraction was Juliet's house, with the famous balcony (shown above). Couples can get married here for 1000 Euro, and can spend a romantic night here for 1000 more. People come from far and wide to view Juliet's balcony, tack up love messages on the walls inside the gates to the courtyard, and, lest we forget, to touch Juliet's breast (shown below), which is said to bring good luck in love! I don't see how that makes any sense though, considering how Romeo and Juliet ends...


The sad truth is that Romeo and Juliet were not real people, Shakespeare never visited Italy in his life, and Juliet's famous balcony was actually a sarcophagus that was shoved onto the wall of an old house. Romantic, huh? Here's the truth: like Bologna, medieval Verona was also dominated by noble families. The Capulets and the Montagues really existed, and they probably did hate each other. Why? Because the Capulets were Guelphs - supporters of the Papacy as a secular power - and the Montagues were Ghibellines - supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor. So although the characters of Romeo and Juliet were invented by William Shakespeare, the story is based on historical context, and there is every possibility that there may have existed a pair of star-cross'd lovers after all.

"First base"

After eating an insanely large and delicious lunch, we toured the city a little more on our own before taking the train back to Bologna. Highlights are shown below.














Left: Statue of Dante and tower
Right: The ladder, icon of Verona and symbol of the most prominent family, della Scala.

"Romeow"

Overlooking Verona from Roman amphitheater

Another shot from the Roman theater showing the bridge Ponte Pietra

Basilica of Sant'Anastasia

Night-time view of the city from atop the tallest tower.

The verdict: Verona has a perfectly harmonious and elegant beauty, and it is the most romantic spot I've ever visited. I highly recommend it, and I'd love to go back!