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It’s M-I-K-E-?

on May 24, 2024

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Testing…. From the airport. No time like the last minute!

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Ravenna Day 2 - Part 2

After a lunch of pasta, salad, and birra alla spina, we made our way to Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. Theodoric began this as an Arian church, but after the Byzantine conquest it was dedicated to St Martin. Great mosaics and Greek columns thought to have been "recycled" from a Greek temple. Speaking of Theodiric, we did walk 20 min to his mausoleum only to arrive just as it closed. Que 😭 We finished our afternoon at the Museo Nazionale di Ravenna. Here are a couple of highlights. It also had a lovely cloister. Added bonus pic! A leaning tower near our hotel. Glad I don't live next to it! We finished last evening in Ravenna with a delicious dinner... And found this lovely street art on our walk home!

Ravenna Day 1

Day 1 is really 1/2 day as we arrived mid-afternoon. Ravenna, like Reggio, is a smaller and very charming city. There are certainly tourists, but it isn't the hoards that are in Bologna. Long ago, Ravenna was the leading city of Western Europe and heir to Rome. As a city built on canals, it was Venice before there was a Venice. And not only did it survive the Dark Ages, it thrived. Many of the historical points of interest in Ravenna were built 1500 years ago on soft, swampy soil. Subsequently, many of the structures have sunk several meters into the earth. What is most notable of the religious art here is that it was created with mosaic tile, not painted frescos. A good example was our first stop, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Built 1400 years ago in honor of Galla Placidias, daughter of Theodosius the Great, it is as remarkable as her life was (too long for here, but well worth Googling her). The structure itself has sunk 2.5 meters into the earth, but luckily the mosaic art has ...

Bologna Day 3

Apparently in the 12th century towers were all the rage. All the cool kids had them, so Bologna desperately wanted to keep up. From that desire, I Due Torri (The Two Towers) were born. The taller tower, Torre degli Asinella, stands 97m tall (originally 100). It tilts 2m making it Italy's tallest leaning tower (Pisa is tiny at 57m tall). The smaller tower, Torre Della Garisenda, is 3m off true because of poor foundation building. In 1360, 12m were lopped off the top bc it became such a public threat. Sounds like the new highrise in SF! The more things change... Just up the street from the towers is Casa Isolani, the best preserved 13th century home in Bologna. Here's the kicker: the Isolani family, who can trace their family origins back to the crusades, still own the house. Talk about pressure not to sell! We enjoyed walking the city and seeing the sites. The above pic is the chamber of commerce. Since today was our museum day, we figured we better get to it. Don't worry,...

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It’s M-I-K-E-?

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