Nowadays its large art heritage, mainly mosaics, is the main legacy of that period. These decorations are made with small stones cut one by one to fit them to the underlying plan. Either celebrating the glory of the empire, as in the side panels of the apse of St. Vitale, or celebrating the triumph of newly-born Christianity, as in the ancient mausoleum of Galla Placida, the mosaics have preserved us the extraordinary legacy of those centuries The classical art, both Greek an Roman, is strictly interwoven with the Gospel message: from the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista to the Neonian Baptistery, from Galla Placida's Mausoleum to the monuments of the Theodorician age, in balance between orthodoxy and arianism.

The basilica of S. Apollinare Nuovo and Theodoric's mausoleum complete the extraordinary succession of Roman-barbarian monuments and are already an introduction to the Byzantine period The Basilica of S. Apollinare in Classe (5 Km on the road to Rimini), whose majestic mosaic decorations are by themselves worth a visit, belongs to this period.

Traveler's tip

Ravenna has two great passions: mosaic and music. It is the venue of an important music festival held in July not only in the town theaters but also in the streets and squares. Rocca Brancaleone, an old Venetian fortress, is the most important center of this festival and it provides the opera stagings with the imposing background of its ramparts. Riccardo Muti and Luciano Pavarotti are among the traditional guests of "Ravenna in Festival".
In the same fortress, each year in August, notes still play the leading role, but faces and style are different: Ravenna Jazz has been by now a very successful twenty-year old festival. Here too the list of singers is various and distinguished: Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Charlie Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Sonny Rollins.