Ravenna: The Twilight of the Roman Empire
Thursday, November 30th
***SOLD OUT***
For a brief, dazzling moment, Ravenna was an unlikely refuge for a world falling apart. The city’s history, enshrined in superb Byzantine mosaics, reflects the twilight of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages. While ageless monuments were falling everywhere, Ravenna was crowded with new and sumptuous palaces and churches. As the capital of the Western Roman Empire in its last days, then of the occidental provinces of the Byzantine Empire, it offered a refuge of luxury and splendor, a return to antique civilization rising above the relentless seas of barbarism.
Art historian Elaine Ruffolo, highlights the history of this city, its important architecture, and the extraordinarily decorative walls of its palaces and churches—masterpieces of an age when artistic achievement was reaching one of its summits in the form of mosaics. UNESCO has recognized the “outstanding universal value” of Ravenna’s early Christian buildings, citing “the supreme artistry of the mosaic art that the monuments contain” and “the crucial evidence that they provide of artistic and religious relationships and contacts at an important period of European cultural history
Thursday November 30
Transportation (private coach)
Depart at 8:15 AM Piazza Ferrucci
Break outside of Bologna
Return from Ravenna around 5:00 PM and arrive in Florence around 7:30 PM (traffic permitting)
Itinerary:
Coach to center of Ravenna
Church of San Vitale
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Neonian Baptistery
Dante’s Tomb
Sant’Apollinare Nuovo
1:45 PM Fabulous lunch at Osteria del Tempo Perso
Sant’Apollinare in Classe
Price
190.00 Euro per person (minimum of 12 participants)
Price includes: transportation, entrances fee/tips, lunch, instruction
You can pay in cash, Zelle (elaine.ruffolo@gmail.com), credit card or Paypal on my website at https://www.elaineruffolo.com/donate. If you pay via the website, please add 3% ($195). Please indicate the payment is for the Day Trip to Ravenna
Respond to Kellin at admin@elaineruffolo.com to hold your place.
Private Visit to the Vatican Museums and
Sistine Chapel and Walking Tour of Rome
Monday, December 11th
The Vatican Museums are brimming with classical and religious works of art collected throughout the centuries. Combined with the Sistine Chapel, the museums are visited by over six million people a year and rank among the most popular art museums in the world. To avoid the confusion and congestion of the crowds, join Elaine Ruffolo for a private encounter. On Monday, December 11, the doors of the Vatican will open at exactly 7:00 pm so we can enjoy an exclusive, after-hours, guided visit. We will explore the Antique Statuary collection, the Map Gallery, the Tapestries, the Raphael rooms, and the Sistine Chapel…all on our own. Our visit will end with an apericena in the courtyard of the Vatican.
Before our private evening visit, I am offering a walking tour of the Campus Marzio, the historic neighborhood around the Pantheon. We will meet at 3:30 pm in front of the Pantheon and visit the following monuments: Pantheon, San Luigi dei Francesi (Caravaggio), Sant'Agostino (Raphael and Caravaggio), and the Piazza Navona (Bernini). We will finish around 5:30 and have a break for a snack before we depart by private minivans to the entrance of the Vatican.
When we finish at the Vatican museums, minivans will transfer us to a convenient location in Rome.
What's Included:
Walking tour and visits to monuments in the center of Rome including the Pantheon, Caravaggio's Contarelli Chapel at San Luigi dei Francesi, Sant'Agostino, and Piazza Navona.
After hours visit to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel culminating with a Roman apericena.
Transportation by minivans within Rome.
Cost and Payment:
The cost for the event is 435 euros per person.
You can pay in cash, Zelle (elaine.ruffolo@gmail.com), credit card or Paypal on my website at https://www.elaineruffolo.com/donate. If you pay via the website, please add 3% ($448). Please indicate the payment is for the private Sistine Chapel visit.
Respond to Kellin at admin@elaineruffolo.com to hold your place.
Note: Your transportation to and from Rome and hotel accommodation are not included.