Ravenna, Italy, my "home" away from "home"

After seven days in Venice, I was ready to move on to Ravenna.  I have wanted to be in Ravenna for about 8 years, since taking a medieval art class in grad school.  Ravenna was the eastern capital in the west belonging to Justinian as he ruled from Constantinople (in Turkey, now Istanbul, for those of you not familiar with They Might Be Giants).  But I had no idea how comfortable I would be there.  Ravenna is a sleepy town in Italy, something like Boise or the North End in Boise.  In fact, it felt so much like Boise, I had to keep reminding myself that I could not walk to Phil's or Ellie's.

I stayed at a Youth Hostel, one that I would recommend wholeheartedly for families or singles (breakfast alone comes with kiwis, oranges, apples, assorted juices including grapefruit and pineapple, bread with butter and jams, hard-boiled eggs, cereals like muselix AND cocopuffs, coffee, and...have I forgotton something?).  http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Ostello-Dante/Ravenna/10589?source=googleadwordshostelsbyname&gclid=CK2ckqORsKUCFYS-zAodUWbTYg

Ravenna is the heart of Byzantine Christianity, and so the mosaics are early and elaborately propagandic (although most Christian art is, and I am not saying that as a cynic but as an academic--though some of you won't trust academics, a.k.a. liberals, so...fuck it).  And they are stunning.  At one point, turning a corner, I saw the procession to Christ sitting on his throne in judgement, a motif in Byzantine art but NOT early Christian art, and I wept.  The kind of weeping that I could not just wipe away in a hurry.  The kind of weeping that came from absolute joy and gratitude that I had to go sit in a corner with my face to an altar ;)  I had been listening to this song on my fancy ipod, loaned to me by my Ellie, and it modulated just as I turned the corner to see this procession of mosaics, and I lost it.  My friend John wrote this insightful and delightful blog about music and its power.  Here it is.  http://phood4thot.blogspot.com/2010/11/musicspirit-spiritmusic-11-16-10.html

It's funny because as I was weeping, I kept saying "Thank you. Thank you."  And I noticed that I was turning my gratitude outward, which I quickly adjusted. It is by my own work that I am here.  It is by my own decisions that I am here.  It is by the love and support of a very good man and very good friends that I am here.  I keep looking for the spiritual here, and being in hundreds of churches (literally three or four a day in 75 days), I have not found it (that will be another blog).  That is NOT to say that people cannot find the spiritual in churches.  It is only to say that I find it in a good cup of coffee on a rainy day in a park I found on accident that I want to tell all those I love about.  

Ravenna is a beautiful city where public art is very proud of its heritage.  Taking its past of mosaics into new generations, artists are creating innovative new pieces with an homage to the city's artistic heritage.  This is nice as there is not a lot to do in Ravenna (only thre or four VERY famoud sites), so you are often left to wander and to wander for long hours if you want to fill a day.  But there is always something new and exciting to see if you are up for it. 

Ravenna is also where I experienced the season's inversion. I was remarking how romantic the fog was, in a Wuthering Heights kind of wway, when the hostel worker, with a great sense of humour, said "This isn't romantic; I have to drive home in this!"  Ah, yes, one person's romance is another person's dangerous wreck on the way to happy hour.  She laughed at me, as she should have, and reminded me the next morning as I was leaving for Siena, "I hope Siena is the romantic place you are looking for."

Ravenna is easily by favorite place so far, and if I were ever to live in Italy, Ravenna would be where I would choose to nest.  Thus far anyway.  Here are some pics.

http://sheisasinafieldasilkentent.shutterfly.com/pictures/434