Ravenna

Ravenna is seen in 1–2 days: six mosaics from its days as a capital fit into one day's walk through the centre, and a second is left for a basilica outside town and a mausoleum on its edge. Ravenna's own airport has no regular service, so arrivals come through Bologna, about 1 h 20.

The day in the centre starts at the Basilica of San Vitale and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, which stand in the same garden, a few steps apart. San Vitale is an octagonal 6th-century church whose apse carries the city's best-known mosaic — Justinian and Theodora with their retinue, facing each other across the altar. The mausoleum next to it, smaller and older, holds a blue vault scattered with stars.

From the garden the walk continues towards the centre, to the Neonian Baptistery right by the Duomo — the oldest building still standing in the city, raised in the 5th century, its dome showing Christ waist-deep in the waters of the Jordan. A few streets on, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo holds two processions of martyrs and virgins running the length of the nave in mosaic, towards the altar, from the days Theodoric ruled Italy from here.

On the way to the square stands Dante's Tomb: the poet spent his last years of exile in Ravenna and died here in 1321, while his native Florence spent decades asking for his bones back. The tomb is small, neoclassical, and free to enter — a short stop between two ticketed monuments.

A second day goes beyond the centre, to the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, on the site of the old harbour that once gave the city its naval power, with an apse mosaic of the Transfiguration. On the other side of town stands the Mausoleum of Theodoric, plain outside and without mosaics within — its roof is a single block of stone, hauled across the sea from Istria.

From Bologna's airport the route is: Marconi Express monorail to Bologna Centrale station, then a regional train to Ravenna, about 1 h 20. Once in Ravenna the centre is covered on foot, so city transport is rarely needed.