The mosaics of Ravenna, from San Vitale to Sant'Apollinare in Classe

Getting there

The motorhome is left in piazza della Resistenza, a quarter of an hour on foot from the centre: it is the car park that the Diocese's Opera di Religione recommends by name, and the tour starts from the cathedral, the nearest.

• The walking tour, measured on the map: from piazza della Resistenza to the Neonian Baptistery and the Museo Arcivescovile 900 metres, then 1 kilometre to Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, 750 metres to the Arian Baptistery, 800 metres to San Vitale and Galla Placidia, and a kilometre and 200 metres back to the motorhome. That is about four and a half kilometres, an hour's walk plus the visits
• The Mausoleum of Theodoric is outside the centre, a kilometre and 700 metres from San Vitale; six hundred metres away is the free motorhome area of piazza Fratelli Minardi, in via Chiavica Romea, with water filling and emptying, and you can move there by motorhome
• Sant'Apollinare in Classe is six kilometres to the south, on the road to Rimini. With the motorhome you go to the coach and motorhome car park in piazzale Ravaioli, 260 metres from the basilica, with water filling and emptying, at 6 euros for 24 hours; without it, there is bus 4 from the station, the train to Classe station, 650 metres away, or the cycle path, about half an hour by bicycle
• The centre is a limited traffic zone: the motorhome does not go in, and the monuments are all within walking distance

Practical information

The monuments of the Diocese are bought in three tours, of two, four or five, and Galla Placidia and the Neonian Baptistery need a booked time slot; the three of the State are paid separately, also with a combined ticket.

Contacts

Where it is

Ravenna · Emilia-Romagna

You set off from

Notes

• The Diocese tickets in 2026: there is no longer a single ticket, there are three tours. The two-monument one, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo and San Vitale, costs 10.50 euros; the four-monument one adds Galla Placidia and the Neonian Baptistery and costs 12.50 euros; the five-monument one adds the Museo Arcivescovile with the Chapel of Sant'Andrea and costs 14.50 euros. Children from 6 to 10 pay 2 euros on the four-monument tour and 4 on the five-monument one, and up to 5 they do not pay; on the two-monument tour they do not pay up to 10. Between 11 and 17 there is no age reduction. A family with two children of 7 and 9 spends 29 euros with the four-monument tour and 37 with the five-monument one. The supplement for Galla Placidia, which there was in past years, is not in the 2026 price list
• The Diocese opening hours: in winter, from 3 November 2026 to 6 March 2027, every day from 10:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:30, and at 16:45 at Galla Placidia and the Neonian. In summer from 9:00 to 19:00. Closed on 25 December and 1 January. One Saturday a month, usually the last, the Neonian Baptistery closes from 11:30 to 12:30 for baptisms: in winter, in the Diocese's list, on 28 November 2026 and 23 January 2027, and in December during the Christmas vigil
• The State monuments, read on the Comune's pages between September and October 2026: the Mausoleum of Theodoric costs 6 euros, Sant'Apollinare in Classe 6, the Arian Baptistery 3; from 18 to 25 you pay 2 euros. The 14 euro combined ticket covers Classe, Theodoric, the Arians, the Museo Nazionale and the Palace of Theodoric; the 7 euro one only Theodoric, the Arians and the Palace. How many days it is valid is not written. Entry is free on the first Sunday of the month, on 1 November and 6 December 2026, 3 January, 7 February and 7 March 2027, and also on 4 November 2026; the Diocese, on the other hand, always charges
• The State opening hours: Classe is open all year Monday to Saturday from 8:30 to 19:30, Sundays and public holidays from 13:30, closed on 25 December; on Sunday morning there is mass. The Arian Baptistery opens Monday to Thursday from 9:00 to 12:00, and Friday to Sunday also from 14:00 to 17:00. The Mausoleum of Theodoric in winter, from 2 November to February, opens from 8:30 to 16:30, but according to the Ministry's database it closes at 13:30 from Tuesday to Thursday: it is odd, and it is best to phone the ticket office, on 0544 456701
• San Vitale: the mosaics are all in the presbytery and the apse, beyond the arch with the medallions of Christ and the apostles. On the left Justinian with the gold paten, among the dignitaries, the soldiers and bishop Maximian; on the right Theodora with the chalice, in a purple cloak embroidered with pearls, among her ladies. In the apse vault a young, beardless Christ seated on the globe holds out the crown to Saint Vitalis, and bishop Ecclesius offers him the model of the church. On the walls Abraham with the three angels, the sacrifice of Isaac, Abel and Melchizedek; at the top of the vault the Lamb, and everywhere peacocks, birds and plants. The entrance is at via Argentario 22
• The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, from the first half of the fifth century, is in the same enclosure as San Vitale, under a large plane tree. It is a small brick cross, and inside the blue dome is full of gold stars, with the cross in the centre and the symbols of the four evangelists in the corners; over the door the Good Shepherd among the sheep, opposite Saint Lawrence running to his martyrdom with the cross, beside the cupboard with the four gospels, and the deer drinking at the spring. You go in in small groups, for a few minutes: that is why the time slot is booked
• Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, at via di Roma 53, five minutes from the station: the two walls of the nave are covered in mosaic along their whole length. At the bottom, towards the entrance, the port of Classe on the left and the palace of Theodoric on the right, and from there the processions: on one side the martyrs walking towards Christ enthroned, on the other the virgins led by the three Magi towards the Madonna and Child. Higher up the stories of Christ, the miracles with a beardless Christ and the Passion with a bearded Christ. Here there is also the exhibition "Dante e i mosaici", Dante and the mosaics, included in the ticket, from 10:00 to 16:00 and closed in July and August
• The Neonian Baptistery, next to the cathedral, in a public garden: octagonal, remodelled by bishop Neon in the second half of the fifth century, the best preserved baptismal building in the world according to the Diocese. In the dome the baptism of Christ with John the Baptist and the Jordan as an old man rising from the water, and around it the twelve apostles with their crowns, led by Peter and Paul
• The Arian Baptistery, in piazzetta degli Ariani, is half a century younger and was built by Theodoric for his Arian church: the same scene, Christ naked in the Jordan and the river with two red crab claws on its head, and the twelve apostles walking towards an empty throne with the cross. You see both on the same morning, to see how the second copies the first. There is a platform for those who cannot manage the stairs and a ticket machine
• The Museo Arcivescovile and the Chapel of Sant'Andrea, at piazza Arcivescovado 1, only with the five-monument ticket: the bishops' chapel, made under bishop Peter II while Theodoric reigned, has in the vestibule a vault full of birds and over the door a warrior Christ in armour trampling the lion and the serpent. In the museum Maximian's ivory throne, from the sixth century. The chapel is reached up two steps, and for those who cannot walk well there is a goods lift
• Sant'Apollinare in Classe, consecrated on 9 May 549 next to the tomb of the first bishop of Ravenna: outside the brick and the round bell tower 37 metres tall; inside twenty-four columns of Greek marble and the sarcophagi along the aisles. In the apse vault a green meadow with trees and birds, and in the middle Sant'Apollinare with open arms among twelve lambs; above him a great jewelled cross in a starry sky, with Moses and Elijah: it is the Transfiguration. Next door are the Classis museum and the Antico Porto di Classe, which have their own tickets
• The Mausoleum of Theodoric, from about 520, has no mosaics: it is the tomb of the king of the Goths, made of blocks of Aurisina stone laid without mortar, with a dome made of a single block of over 290 tonnes, cracked. It stands in a park, and the upper chamber is reached by an outside staircase
• In summer, in the evening: in 2026, on Fridays in July and August, San Vitale and Galla Placidia opened from 21:00 to 23:00, with booking. For 2027 the Diocese has not written anything yet
• The mosaic workshops: the Comune lists about ten, and almost all of them run courses. Koko Mosaico, at via di Roma 136, a hundred metres from Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, advertises, without the year, a two-hour course at 95 euros, in which you make a mosaic of 10 centimetres by 10, and a family course of about three hours at 200 euros, for up to six people; you book by email, at info@kokomosaico.com. Annafietta is at via Argentario 21, opposite the entrance to San Vitale
• With a guide: the Comune offers "Tessere di mosaico", Mosaic tiles, every day until 31 December 2026, from 28 euros, starting from the tourist office at piazza San Francesco 7; book on visitravenna.it or on 0544 482838. Whether the monuments ticket is included the page does not say
• In winter the Diocese monuments close at 17:00, and it is best to start at opening time, at 10:00, with Galla Placidia and the Neonian Baptistery already booked

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