Well what a time we have had here in Ravenna, a lovely town, and what beautiful things to see. We have done so much that what I am about to show and tell you is only a small portion of it. There is plenty of information available if you wish to research more about this amazing place and its treasure trove of mosaics.
We began our stay here by booking a guided tour of the Mosaics. Ravenna has many UNESCO World Heritage sights, 5 of which are particularly famous for their beautiful mosaics. Our guided tour took us to 3 of these sights and an extremely knowledgeable guide put us into information overload with all she knew about the history of the mosaics and of her town. Mind you, both Jill and I decided that we got the abridged version in English while the Italians got a more extended one!
The first church we saw as we entered Ravenna. This church was almost completely destroyed in a bombing raid in WW2. Fortunately some of the mosaics were saved.
Basilica di Sant’Apollonare Nuovo, Ravenna, and the mosaics inside (below).
Basilica di San Vitale and its wonderful mosaics (below).
Mausoleo di Galla Placidia (in the same grounds as San Vitale)
The octagonal Arian Baptistery
Because the ground is so soft (I think that is the explanation), many, or maybe all, of the buildings we saw had double capitals. This is quite a feature of the buildings and was pointed out several times to us.
We investigated places like the Basilica di San Francesco. Tis is a beautiful simple church with an interesting wooden roof. There is a chapel at the side which has a model of a monk standing in it. This is a model of an extraordinary man – San Massimiliano Kolbe who volunteered to take the place of a family man doomed to die in Auschwitz. His statue has eyes that follow one around, and indeed I thought it was a real person standing there for a while, as did Jill.
Here we saw the crypt, but didn’t go into it – it has a metre or more of beautiful clear water in it, complete with gold fish. The city of Ravenna has been built on reclaimed swamp, and the water in the crypt is the level of the water table. Indeed two other buildings had similar evidence of the water table. Another church which had been severely damaged in a bombing raid in WW2 had a big hole and a spotlight showing the water next to a pillar, and the Basilica San Vitale had a well in it, again, with crystal clear water. This well was where Saint Apollinare was murdered. He was put in the well and smothered by rocks – a grizzly end!
The Music! After finding our apartment, our first stop was the tourist bureau. Here we learned about a concert that was to be held that evening in Basilica San Vitale. It was to cost the grand total of €1 each and so of course this was an opportunity not to be missed! To sit in that magnificent building with it's wonderful acoustics, looking at the mosaics (for €1!!), and hearing beautiful medieval music was a treat indeed. We saw one of the artists twice, a duo consisting of a soprano (Elisabeth Hetherington) and Lute (Liuto – David Mackor). The first performance was a programme of medieval church music written by several nuns of the time, and the second was, again, medieval music with a special singing technique called monody. This programme consisted of music by Giulio Caccini, as well as with several pieces composed by his daughter Francesca.
We went to two other concerts, one was Stabat Mater by an Neapolitan composer, Girolamo Abos, and performed by a female choir accompanied by a string trio plus a small organ. The highlight of the concerts though, for me, was the final one. This was a duo programme of the small organ (played by Nicola Lamon, the same organist as the previous night) and a cornetto – no, not the ice-cream, but a medieval wooden instrument that somehow sounded like a cross between a recorder and a trumpet! The music was by Gabrielli and his contemporaries. It was fascinating to hear this instrument which composers of the time described as the closest instrument to the human voice. The musician (David Brutti), who I think first studied the saxophone, plays this instrument at the side of his mouth, though it has a reed of some sort – or some such device.
Nicola Lamon (left) & David Brutti (right)
Three of the four Cornettos played (left), and the delightful organ (right). It packs some punch with volume and as far as I could make out only has 4 stops.
As part of our meanderings we visited an amusement park – by mistake! We thought the bus driver would stop for us as we had no idea when to press the button. We drove past it, but rather than stop and walk back in the hot sun we continued to the end of the line where the bus disgorged its load of teenagers off for a day of fun and water activities. We sat on the bus and returned to where we intended to go. Apart from wandering all over the city, our meanderings took us to Classe where we saw yet more mosaics in the Basilica di Sant’Apollonare. This church is also a UNESCO world heritage listed building, and we were glad that we made the decision to go.
Inside (below) and outside (above) the Basilica di Sant’Apollonare in Classe. A beautiful building indeed.
We had a delightful time in Ravenna exploring the city, seeing the sights, and testing out various restaurants and gelataria. We have walked today from Ravenna to Forli, but more of that next time.
Janet the cornetto has a mouthpiece like a trumpet.
ReplyDeleteIf my brain had been engaged I would have realized that Paul. In hindsight he had a little tin of mouthpieces. Obviously they are a bit fragile, of maybe it is just for different quality of sounds. It is certainly a unizue sound, and surprisingly loud.
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