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RAVENNA
74km
(46 miles) E of Bologna, 145km (90
miles) S of Venice, 130km (81
miles) NE of Florence, 365km (226
miles) N of Rome.
Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from the
year 402 AD, the Visigoth Empire
from the year 473 AD and the
Byzantine Empire from the year 540
AD to the year 752 AD. This is
quite an achievement for one city.
Under the Emperor Justinian and
Empress Theodora during the years
A.D. 540 to 752, Ravenna became
one of the greatest cities on the
Mediterranean. Yet it is now a
sleepy town that entices tourists
with memories of its Imperial past
and the remains of those heady
years. Ravenna reached its
cultural peak also under the
Byzantine Empire, and is now
famous for the many well-preserved
mosaics created during that time,
the supreme in all Western art and
the most superb outside Istanbul.
Modern day Ravenna does look like
a typical Italian town but the low
Byzantine domes of its churches
reflect its contact with the East.
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