MOSAIC CAPITAL
Ravenna, the jewel of Emilia-Romagna, is universally recognized as the capital of mosaics. This city, set in the rich Po Valley, holds an artistic and cultural heritage of inestimable value, the result of a glorious past that saw it as the capital of three empires: the Western Roman, Theodoric king of the Goths and the Byzantine Empire in the West. Its famous early Christian and Byzantine monuments, including the Basilica of San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo and the Basilica in Classe, have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The mosaics of Ravenna, with their iridescent hues, tell stories of faith and power, art and culture, through an artistic language that influenced the evolution of Byzantine and Western art. To visit it is to immerse oneself in an out-of-time atmosphere, where the light, colors and shapes of the mosaics continue to narrate the grandeur of a bygone era, testifying to man's ability to create eternal beauty