After spending a single night in San Marino, and thakning our lucky stars that we found a place, we drove on to Ravenna. Ravenna has the best mosaics this side of Istanbul, which is where we first became interested in them. In fact, the famous Hagia Sofia in Istanbul was copied from the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna.
Towards the end of the Roman Empire with the barbarians at the gates of Rome, the emperor moved the capital to Ravenna. The Goths finally captured the new capitol, ending the glory that was Rome in 476. They ruled until 540 when Justinian briefly reunited the Italian part of the empire with the Byzantium.
In the mosaics it is easy to see the influence of the Romans, the Goths, and the Byzantines from the way the biblical stories are treated; there are no Marys, Jesus is completely naked in a scene of his baptism, and a pagan river god represents the Jordan River. The art also reflects the argument that was going on between the the branches of the church regarding the nature of Christ, finally settled by Constantine's Nicene Creed.
