Italy: Ravenna – San Vitale & Galla Placidia
Ravenna is incredible and unlike any other city on earth. Here, it’s all about early Christian mosaics – so elaborate and so stunning that it will leave you breathless and with a seriously sore neck from starring at the ceiling. The largest site is the Basilica San Vitale – an octagonal church built in the 6th century. It’s very simple from the outside but absolutely surreal inside: mosaics cover cupola, walls, columns; the windows are made from translucent rock and the marble floors are arranged in intricate ornaments. Outside the Basilica stands a very simple building of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia with the vaulted cross-shaped ceiling covered with the oldest and most elaborate and perfect mosaics in Ravenna.
