Via Romea Germanica Day 91: Ghibullo - Forlì

If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.

– Elizabeth von Arnim (1866-1941)

My ground-floor room at the bed and breakfast in Ghibullo was conveniently located right next to the kitchen, where I made myself some porridge and a cup of coffee. I was out the door by seven and walked a couple hundred metres along the side of the highway to the bridge, then crossed the river and reached the embankment just in time to see the sun rise over the fields.

I followed the embankment until just after Coccolia, where a sign warned of a road closure in 1600 metres. Assuming I would be able to walk through or around it as a pedestrian, an opinion shared by a local woman I met on a bicycle, I kept going; but the fencing of the barrier turned out to be impenetrable, with a dense thicket of canes on the side facing the river and a very muddy plowed field on the other. So I walked the road detour, adding a couple of kilometres onto today's stage. The best solution would probably have been to cross the bridge at Coccolia and walk along Via del Canale, but I didn't think of that at the time!

I rejoined the Via Romea route in Borgo Sisa, where it leaves the river, crossing over and then taking country roads, paved and unpaved, the rest of the way into Forlì. 

Pumpkin patch

Shortly after a sign indicated that I was entering Forlì city limits, I turned off the route slightly to take a lunch break in a park with a small lake, geese, swans and, more importantly, benches and a drinking fountain.

I then walked the rest of the way into the centre of Forlì. 

A bit of history: Forlì 

Forum Livii was founded by the Roman Consul Livy in 188 B.C., but the area was settled well before that: remains of Paleolithic villages have been found. Byzantine in the sixth century, Forlì was the scene of bitter battles in the Middle Ages; the Ordelaffi family dynasty held the city from the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 16th; it then became part of the Papal State until 1861, the year of the unification of Italy. 

Benito Mussolini was born in nearby Predappio, and his government invested in development of the area, which is why so many buildings in the Rationalist style of the 30s may be see in Forlì. This was the time of establishment of numerous factories and the airport.

The town's most significant religious building is the Basilica Abbey of San Mercuriale, completed in 1180, with one of Italy's tallest bell towers, 75 metres high: in the Middle Ages this was considered one of the great wonders of Italy.

The weekly market was just about to close in the square in front of the church when I arrived, making it hard to take decent pictures of the piazza!

I crossed through the market to visit the cathedral, where I stopped the kilometre counter for the day. I was also hoping to get a stamp, but there was no-one around to ask. 

I walked out of the town centre towards the park, where I had an appointment to meet Franco, a pilgrim friend of Rita, the ospitalera I met for lunch in Ravenna. The two of them met at the airport on their way to walk the Camino de Santiago, and ended up walking the whole way together - plus some more Long Walks in the years that followed. Franco drove me to the train station to pick up my friend and walking buddy Mariella, who will be walking with me from here on. Then he took us back to his apartment, where we met his wife, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. 

With Franco in his study and shrine to Mina ❤️

After enjoying a glass of wine and a snack together, and upsetting the family equilibrium be preventing the granddaughter from taking her afternoon nap, we accepted Franco's offer of a lift to the church in Ronco, four kilometres east of Forlì, where the parish provides a room for pilgrims. Don Giovanni, the parish priest, showed us the room and instructed us to call him if we needed anything.  He even left us each a copy of a booklet he wrote about a local saint, Beata Benedetta Bianchi Porro. And he called his parishioner Lorenzo, who is a local hiking guide and expert on the upcoming section of the trail; Lorenzo met us at the bar down the road to give us some advice about tomorrow's route, which is different from the one shown in the guidebook because of damage caused to the river banks by flooding two years ago. 

So now we are well prepared to head into the next part of the Via Romea Germanica: the Apennines!

The pilgrim room in Ronco

The pilgrims!

Ghibullo - Forlì 21.5 km

Via Romea Germanica Day 90: Ravenna - detour to Classe - Ghibullo

Quando voglio capire la storia d'Italia prendo un treno e vado a Ravenna.

(When I want to understand Italian history, I take a train and go to Ravenna.)

- Arnaldo Momigliano, historian

Today let's start with...

A bit of history: Ravenna 

Legend has it that the city of Ravenna was founded by the Greeks, though there is no evidence to support this theory. It is known that the city was inhabited by the Umbri, an ancient people who lived alongside the Etruscans for many centuries. The Romans took over the territory around the third century B.C., and in the days of the Roman Empire Ravenna was a cosmopolitan city, home to between 6000 and 10,000 sailors and their families from all over the Empire lived in the city.

Artist's impression of Ravenna in the first century after Christ 

...and of the sixth-century expansion, with the districts of Cesarea and Classe

In A.D. 402 the 18-year-old Emperor Honorius made Ravenna the capital city of the Western Roman Empire, easily connected with the heart of the Empire, Constantinople, by sea. The city was surrounded with defensive walls, and the fifth to eighth centuries saw Ravenna's golden age, when the monuments for which it is renowned today were constructed, many of them incorporating columns and other components manufactured in the Near East. This is when the nearby port city of Classe was founded, consisting of rows of warehouses along a canal connecting it with the sea and with the city of Ravenna, which was also connected by road, and a town with homes, infrastructure and monuments of its own. Foodstuffs, olive oil, ceramics and other goods were imported from Carthage in northern Africa; wine was imported from the Near East and from Palestine - particularly valuable for use during Mass, because of its origin in the Holy Land.

Late fifth-century amphorae for importing Garum (fermented fish sauce) from Tunisia

By the middle of the seventh century the port was silting up due to sediments carried by the river, and was abandoned along with the rest of the city of Classe.

Classe had a great basilica of its own, the last and one of the largest to be built in the Ravenna area: the late sixth-century Basilica di San Severo a Classe, built over the ruins of a Roman villa, featuring complex floor mosaics depicting animals and geometric patterns which must have been truly fantastic to see.  A Benedictine monastery was founded beside the basilica in the late 9th century, by which time the town of Classe had been largely abandoned. An inhabited monastic community for hundreds of years, the monastery passed into the hands of the Cistercians in the 13th century, and was unfortunately abandoned and dismantled in the 15th century. It was only rediscovered during excavation of the area in 1965. Fragments of the mosaics are displayed in the archaeological museum in Classe, along with floor mosaics from a number of Roman domuses. 

All this I learned, and saw, at Classis Ravenna Archaeological Museum in Classe, 5.5 kilometres from my starting point in central Ravenna. A two-kilometre detour from the Via Romea Germanica route towards Forlì, following the alternate route that leads to Cervia - but well worth the extra distance!

Let's backtrack for a moment: happy to be back on the road, but also to have spent a fruitful day touring Ravenna, I was the first up in the morning and had the hostel kitchen all to myself; I had put some overnight oats in the fridge for a hearty breakfast. I left my keys and donation in my room as instructed, and set off out of Ravenna. After crossing the bridge over the Fiumi Uniti, a 12-kilometre long river formed by the confluence of the rivers Montone and Ronco south of Ravenna, I detoured down the cycling path beside the road to Classe, where I hoped to visit the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe. 

But I had not done my homework: the Basilica is closed on Sunday mornings! 🙄

No problem: I had all day to get to Ghibullo, only 12.5 kilometres south of Ravenna, where I had found the only inexpensive B&B close to the route, to break up the 35-kilometre stage between Ravenna and Forlì. So I sat in a café in Classe, completing yesterday's blog post over a cup of tea, until Classis Ravenna Archaeological Museum opened at 10. The museum is located just behind the basilica, in the former Eridania sugar mill, constructed in 1899-1900 and in operation until 1982.

After touring the museum and writing up the above notes on the history of Ravenna and Classe, I still had an hour before the basilica opened at 1:30. Time for lunch! Right across from the museum entrance is a small park, with a kiosk selling piadine romagnole, the traditional local flatbread, with a variety of fillings. I chose a delicious if unconventional one with a filling of hummus, red cabbage and sun-dried tomatoes, with a German Weiß beer - in keeping with the theme of the Via Romea Germanica - and sat inside the sheltered veranda of the kiosk, as it was rather windy out. 

Right next to the kiosk is the small train station of Classe. So an easier way to visit Sant'Apollinare in Classe would be to spend an extra night in Ravenna, and take the train one stop from Ravenna to Classe and back. And if you take the variant of the Via Romea Germanica leading to Cervia, further along the coast, you will pass through Classe anyway, on your way. 

The Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe was consecrated on 9 May, 549 by the bishop Maximian and dedicated to Saint Apollinaris, the first bishop of Ravenna and Classe. 

After visiting the church, and obtaining a stamp for my pilgrim credential and a few knick-knacks in the gift shop, I retraced my steps along the cycling track toward Ravenna for about a kilometre and a half before turning off and cutting through the settlement of Ponte Nuovo, on a route along the road that Mapy.cz assured me would save two kilometres compared to going all the way back to the bridge and then along the embankment of the river Ronco. When I rejoined the river near Madonna dell'Albero, the road bridge was being repaired and I had to walk through a construction site to get up onto the embankment; it being Sunday, there was no work going on and no-one to notice, so I walked around the barrier. Out of the construction site and on the narrow, paved embankment road, I stopped for a short break at the base of a column commemorating the Battle of Ravenna, involving Spanish and Papal troops aligned with Romagna fighting French troops on the side of the Duke of Ferrara, in 1512. 

From here on, it was the now-familiar landscape: the river on the right, often hidden from view by tall bamboo canes; fields, apple orchards and the occasional farmhouse on the left. This has been the common denominator of the Via Romea Germanica ever since Padova - though I believe that is about to change, as we get into the Apennines after Forlì!

Ten kilometres after leaving Sant'Apollinare in Classe, I crossed a bridge over the Ronco into the town of Ghibullo, which is basically just a strip of houses along the highway, and where there is absolutely nothing to see and do - fine with me! I can rest my eyes after all the sparkling mosaics of Ravenna, and my ears after the Bach cello suites. I checked into my room at La Vecchia Stazione R&B - not Rhythm & Blues, but Rest & Breakfast. I have a triple room, which for some reason cost less than a double, and comes with - a bathtub! The plug has been removed, so they presumably want you to use it only as a shower - but I have my handy universal silicone plug with me! Hah! 

The owners also, I discovered, have a roadside piadina stand - so I probably should have had something else for lunch, and a piadina for dinner, and saved myself the trouble of carrying food all the way from Ravenna!

Ghibullo 

Fancy room

Shared kitchen

A bathtub!! 🤩

Ravenna - Classe - Ghibullo 17 km

Via Romea Germanica Day 89: Ravenna

Ravenna sta come stata è molt’anni

(Ravenna stands as it long years has stood)

- Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, Inferno XXVII

Tomb of Dante in Ravenna 

Dante Alighieri spent the last twenty years of his life in Ravenna, as well as some time earlier, during his years in exile. But the city he saw was already long past its age of glory as a capital city and a commercial and military power in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D.

I began my exploration at the city's oldest monument, the Orthodox baptistery or Neonian baptistery beside the cathedral, built under the bishop Ursus in the late fourth or early fifth century on the site of a former Roman bath, with mosaics added 50 years later by order of the bishop Neon.

Next door is the Archepiscopal Museum in the former Bishop's Palace, containing the private chapel of the bishops of Ravenna, built between 494 and 519.

Scenes carved in the ivory bishops' throne

The sixth-century intricately carved ivory  archbishops' throne is on display in the room beside the chapel. The museum also contains bits and pieces of ancient Roman/early Christian sarcophagi and inscriptions, and an complicated Paschal Calendar engraved in stone, useful for determining the exact date of Easter in the years between A.D. 532 and 626.

In an adjacent room are mosaic fragments from the old cathedral, dated 1112, offering a rare opportunity to see mosaics of this type close up and appreciate details such as the shading of the hair and skin.

The cathedral was, unfortunately, rebuilt in the 18th century. But I went in to ask for a stamp on my pilgrim credential, and almost put an end to my walk by falling down the (invisible) step on the way out of the sacristy in the semi-darkness!

Next on my agenda was the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, containing the oldest mosaics in Ravenna. Empress Galla Placidia, who ruled over the Western Roman Empire between A.D. 423 and 437, died in the year 450 in Rome and was buried there, and so the building is believed to have been used by the Empress and her family as a place for the worship of holy relics, rather than a tomb.

Next to the Mausoleum stands the Basilica of San Vitale, commissioned by Emperor Justinian and consecrated by the Archbishop Maximilian some time between A.D. 546 and 556. In the presbytery are Byzantine mosaics depicting scenes of sacrifice from the Old Testament, as well as the famous depictions of a youthful Christ in glory and of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, completed in 547.

When your neck starts to ache from looking up at all these ceiling mosaics, you can rest it by looking down at the floor instead.

After all these mosaics, I was ready for a break! I met up with Rita, a fellow ospitalera (volunteer in pilgrim hostels) who lives in Ravenna, for lunch in a historic restaurant, Ca' de Ven, which has some beautiful ceilings of its own!

Lunch was a traditional piadina romagnola flatbread with squacquerone cheese and rucola, accompanied by a glass of Sangiovese. We sat for some time discussing pilgrimage walks and comparing our experiences on the Via Francigena in the more desolate parts of France, then went out for ice cream and talked some more! 

Rita gave me some pointers on other places to visit in Ravenna,  and I set right out to see them. But first I stopped by the last church included in my cumulative ticket, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. This Arian church was originally dedicated in 504 AD to "Christ the Redeemer". In 561 Emperor Justinian, who suppressed the Arian church, rededicated the church to Saint Martin of Tours, a foe of Arianism; mosaics which were overtly Arian in theme, or glorified the Emperor, were removed or altered. It is said that Pope Gregory the Great went so far as to order that the mosaics in the church be blackened so that their golden glory would not distract worshippers from their prayers. The basilica was renamed again in 856 AD when relics of Saint Apollinaris were transferred from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe to protect them against the threat posed by frequent raids of pirates from the Adriatic Sea.

A bit of history: Arianism

Arianism is a doctrine that rejects the notion of the Trinity, teaching that Jesus was created by God and is therefore distinct from God and subordinate to Him. This teaching is named after its proponent Arius (c. 256–336), and was embraced by the Goths and Ostrogoths in the early centuries of Christianity. The ecumenical First Council of Nicaea of 325 declared Arianism to be a heresy. 

Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, was begotten by God the Father, and therefore the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten/made before time by God the Father; Jesus was therefore not coeternal with God the Father, but nonetheless began to exist outside of time. While this was a matter of much debate and antagonism in the early Christian church, according to academic Everett Ferguson, "The great majority of Christians had no clear views about the nature of the Trinity and they did not understand what was at stake in the issues that surrounded it." I would have to agree: the whole issue sounds pretty much like splitting hairs to me!

Nevertheless, Arianism came to be regarded as heretical by most modern mainstream branches of Christianity; the best-known denomination of Christianity still embracing the doctrine of Arianism is the Jehovah's Witnesses. 

Just up the road from Sant'Apollinare Nuovo is the Arian baptistery, commissioned by the Arian Ostrogothic Emperor Theodoric. The mosaics look so fresh and bright, they might have been made yesterday - not by a heretical Ostrogothic king 1500 years ago!

Also adjacent to the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare is the building known as Theodoric's Palace, because of its similarity to the palace depicted in the mosaics in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo; but the construction never was actually a palace, more likely a fortified post for the guards defending the palace complex. It was excavated between1908 and 1914, primarily employing women workers as all the men had been conscripted to prepare for war; mosaics uncovered at this time are now on display in the building's upper level.

Just up the road from the "palace" is the church of San Giovanni, the oldest of all the churches in Ravenna, built by Empress Galla Placidia to give thanks for a safe crossing from Constantinople to Ravenna in stormy seas in A.D. 424. It became a Benedictine monastery around the year 1000. On August 21 and 24, 1944 the church was destroyed by Allied bombs, and following the war it was reconstructed using the original materials. Here too, surviving fragments of mosaic are on display. Entrance to this church is free; for the other main sights of Ravenna, a combination ticket is available for a very reasonable price. The locations included in this ticket are all made accessible to the visually impaired with Braille text and tactile reproductions of some of the most famous figures in the mosaics. Other sights around Ravenna have separate tickets, costing only a couple of euros but requiring mastery of a bewildering variety of ticketing systems (online by Vivaticket, via a vending machine similar to those used for pay parking, etc.).

San Giovanni 

Mosaic-ed out, I stopped by the Co-op supermarket to pick up something for dinner and supplies for the next day's walk, and then retired to my room - just as a thunderstorm broke out!

After resting in my room and heating my ready-made cannelloni for dinner, I put on my rain jacket, packed my remaining waterproofs into my folding day pack "just in case" the rainstorm resumed, and took the bus two kilometres back to Theodoric's Mausoleum. To celebrate European Heritage Days, the Mausoleum was open in the evening for a concert of Bach's Cello Suites 2 and 3, played by young cellist Luigi Visco of Cherubini Youth Orchestra. Tickets were on sale for a symbolic cost of one euro.

Because of the bus schedule I arrived half an hour early for the concert, and it was a good thing, because as soon as I was seated inside the Mausoleum, round two of the evening’s thunderstorms broke loose. Lighting flashed outside the slit windows of the massive stone Mausoleum, and water streamed in under the door, surrounding the giant red porphyry tub that served as Theodoric's sarcophagus. Amidst the storm, the cellist began to play, and for an hour all that existed was the stone walls and the sounds of rain and the musician's breathing, blending with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

When the concert was over, the rain had stopped entirely. Because of the violent storm, the audience was very, very small: the cellist's parents, the concert organisers,  and five other people! (A maximum audience of twenty could have fit into the space of the Mausoleum, which was why reservations were required to attendthe concert; but most of the people who had reserved failed to turn up.) When the music was over, I thanked the cellist and asked him to write in my pilgrim credential before walking the two kilometres back to my accommodation in the city centre.

The Mausoleum lit up for the concert