**** Note – this is a long post. If you want to come back on another for something shorter, or when you have more time to read, I wouldn't blame you. Otherwise, read on……
After the beautiful mosiacs at the Basilica of San Vitale and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia you'd think we'd seen a lot. But even after checking out Dante's Tomb, there was still much to see. Our next stop was a few blocks away, the Neonian Baptistery (Battistero Neoniano). Again, this looked like a rather simple octagonal structure.
It is one of the oldest monuments in the city; believed to be built as a bath house at the beginning of the 5th century. During the end of the 5th century it was renovated and turned into a baptistery; supposedly by Bishop Neon. Hence the name.
The interior is stunning.
The mosaic in the center of the dome represents the baptism of Christ.
This and the Museo Arcivescovile (Archiepiscopal Museum), and the two sites in my previous post on Ravenna were all covered by the combined ticket we purchased earlier in the day.
The museum is located on the first two floors of Archiepiscopal Palace and contains many precious works of Christian churches and the ancient Basilica, many of which; like the Basilica have been demolished. Like the Cappella di Sant'Andrea (Chapel of Saint Andrew), which was once the private chapel of the Bishop.
One of the other items of interest is the Ivory Throne of Maximian. This finely carved ivory masterpiece was once the throne of Archbishop Maximian and completed in the 6th century. Each of the four panels was carved by a different ivory masters. It is something to see.
Also of interest was the Easter (Paschal) Calendar, a set of rules – after the vernal equinox, the revolution of the moon around the Earth, taking into consideration the seven day week…the whole cycle revolves around Easter (Paschal). Confusing? Try and read about Computus….yikes!
We took a short break after this….grabbing some much needed caffeine.
Then it was a longer walk, in the direction of the train station to this wall…..
And this octagonal structure, which has now sunk over two meters into the ground.
King Theoderic was a Goth and when he took power the Arian (Goth) Christianity became the official religion. He did let Orthodox Christians and Arian Christians live together though. This structure was the first that Theoderic had built once he took the throne.
The main feature of this structure is the mosaic roof which depicts the 12 Apostles and the Baptism of Christ.
Our next stop we had passed on our way into town the previous day. Close to the train station is the The Church of San Giovanni Evangelista .
We had noticed it the day before because of the 14th Century Gothic Portal made of marble.
Originally constructed in the 5th Century, it had sustained major damage during the Second World War and almost all of the church has been rebuilt or restored.
A few streets over is the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo which was constructed by King Theoderic.
The interior is beautiful as mosaic friezes line each wall down to the apse.
On one side 22 virgin martyrs are led by the three Maggi to the Virgin and Christ. On the other are 26 male martyrs walking toward Christ sitting on a throne.
There's also something interesting that you might miss if you don't know about it.
If you look closely at some of the mosaics you'll see disembodied hands. So what do these mean?
Well, it means that somebody else was in power. In 561 the church was deconsecrated as a Orthodox Christian Church. This end of the mosaic featured Theoderic and his court looking grand and powerful….well, that was just not going to do with Justinian in power would it? So Bishop Agnellus had him basically "blacked out" (Some things never change, do they?)…….but I guess working over those hands was going to be too much work?
You think perhaps we were "churched out"? For some reason we weren't, but it was getting later in the day. There was just one more place I wanted to see. Remember I mentioned visiting the Basilica di San Francesco in my earlier post? Well, that was our last stop for the day. Yes, this is where Dante's funeral was held and where his remains were kept and hidden. But there was one other reason I wanted to visit.
Well, the crypt of this church is flooded (and somewhere in this pool is supposedly the remains of Bishop Neon). For .50 Euros; you get the lights turned on. The water is amazingly clean and clear.
And yes, there are goldfish swimming around.
You can read more about it on Atlas Obscura.
Whew, it was now time to head back to Casa Masoli and take a break. And soon enough, it was time to head off to dinner. Our hosts at Casa Masoli had booked us a table at a place named Ristorante La Gardela. The place was quite charming, the service very friendly. The restaurant was empty when we arrived….obviously early by Italian standards, but filled up quickly….lots of families out to have a good time.
It was amazing to watch these folks go thru the antipasti, then the primi, then the secondi, with some cortoni (side dishes – usually veggies and salads, but also fries and other stuff), and even formaggi (cheese), before finishing with a dessert from the case! All in the time it took us to finish our rather limited meal! We loved this place.
Of course I started with the Prosciutto Crudo Nostrano – crudo means "never cooked" i.e. cured, and nostrano I believe means local or even home made.
This was good; though perhaps lacking in the complexity of other versions I'd had.
I also just had to have the Lardo di Patanegra su Bruschetta Calda. Aged lard from the legs of "Black" (Iberian) Pigs…melted beautifully on bruschetta.
Oh, baby…….what can I say. And there was even a nice salad underneath….the radicchio here is ridiculously good…..both bitter, vegetal, with sweet tones.
The Missus also ordered the Contorno Misto di Verdure Grigliate - mixed grilled vegetable. First off, let me say the tomatoes here taste like the sweetest, tangiest, sunshine!
And the endive was delish as well.
The Missus ordered what might have been one of Her favorite pasta dishes (along with the Strigoli con Funghi from Il Fantino), the Tagliolini al Radicchio Appassito al Sangiovese.
Remember how I mentioned how good the radicchio was? Well here it was balanced out with a perfect acidity and light sweetness of the sauce. The pasta was cooked perfectly. And take a look at it…….it was dressed for success….not floating around in a ton of "gravy".
My Cappelletti al Ragù Tipico was sauced nicely, the pasta cooked perfectly.
The meat wasn't too rich and was fairly tender. But compared to what the Missus had…..well, the name said it all "tipico". It was a nice dish.
And of course "I Dolce" for the Missus.
The prices were quite reasonable as well. The antipasti and primi were priced at 7 Euros, the veggies, 4….we even had a bottle of wine.
Ristorante La Gardela
Via Ponte Marino 3
48121, Ravenna, Italy
I think Ravenna is truly worthy of an overnight stay. Heck, it's even on our "return to" list!
If you've managed to read thru these 1300+ words, I thank you so much for sharing this with us!
It was the presence of a certain canned meat product….though I'm thinking it wasn't the most popular brand. It actually did well in this as the earthy and crisp bamboo shoots needed some saltiness and more depth. The shredded pork was tender, but didn't really add any flavor. Overall, a bit on the bland side.
And while I wouldn't consider this to be traditional Tianjin Guo Bu Li Baozi ("stuffed buns that even dogs would not eat") it was quite good. The bun, while not overly yeasty in fragrance was light and tender. Both the filling and dough was a bit sweeter than what the Missus's "Shandong – Beijing" palate enjoys, but we quickly found that a drizzle of black vinegar really balanced things out and even added another dimension to the porky goodness of the filling. So, even though I wouldn't consider these to be close to traditional Tianjin style Baozi, I enjoyed them. It was prepared fresh, both the dough and fillings were light, and the black vinegar worked magic in balancing the flavors out. And we could only finish five…..
