332 Route 48. RAVENNA. S. Apoll. in Classe.
the founder, of 1119. The choir and the two adjacent chapels
contain ancient Frescoes from the life of Mary and the Saviour,
erroneously attributed to Giotto, and now much damaged. It is
supposed that this spot was formerly the site of the old harbour,
and that the massive substructure of the clock-tower belonged to the
lighthouse (faro). (A visit to this church, which however is of no
great interest, and to S. Apollinare may conveniently be combined.)
No traveller should quit Ravenna without visiting the church of
S. Apollinare in Classe, situated 2y2M. from the Porta Nuova (drive
there and back 2 hrs., walk 3 hrs.; carr. see p. 323). About 1 M.
from the gate the Ponte Nuovo crosses the united rivers Ronco and
Montone, the confluence of which is higher up. (Before the bridge
is crossed, a path leads to the left in 20 min. to the church of S.
Maria in Porto, the lofty tower of which is seen from a distance.)
The road then traverses marshy meadows to —
*S. Apollinare in Classe, erected in 534 by Julianas Argentarius
on the site of a temple of Apollo, consecrated in 549, and restored
in 1779. This is the most imposing of the basilicas still existing at
Ravenna. It consists of a nave and aisles, with a vestibule at the W.
end, and a round campanile. The exterior exhibits traces of an
attempt to relieve the surfaces of the walls with pilasters and arches.
The spacious Interior rests on twenty-four cipollino columns, and
has an open roof. The Walls are adorned with portraits of bishops and
archbishops of Ravenna, an unbroken series of 126, from the first bishop
St. Apollinaris, who suffered martyrdom in 74 under Vespasian, to the
present archbishop. Each aisle contains four marble sarcophagi of arch¬
bishops. In the left aisle is an inscription relating to the penance per¬
formed here by Emp. Otho III. at the instigation of St. Romualdo. Ad¬
jacent is an ancient capital used as a holy water basin. At the end of
the aisle is a tabernacle of the 9th cent., with an altar of the 14th cen¬
tury. — The Nave contains a marble altar in the ancient style. — The
Crypt, a species of corridor in which the remains of St. Apollinaris once
reposed, is in winter sometimes under water. The bronze window-gratings
are ancient. — Above the crypt is the broad flight of steps leading to the
'Tribuxa1 with the high-altar. The canopy of the latter is borne by four
columns of black and white Oriental marble. The dome of the tribuna
is adorned with well-preserved '-'Mosaics of the 6th cent.: in the centre a
large cross on a blue ground with gilded stars, at the sides Moses and
Elias, below whom is St. Apollinaris preaching to his flock; below, on
the right, are the sacrifices of Abel and Melchisedech; on the left, Con-
stantine and other Roman emperors, among whom are the four arch¬
bishops Ursicinus, St. Ursus, St. Severus, and Ecclesius. — The Arch of the
Choir is also embellished with mosaics: in the centre a bust of Christ, at
the sides the emblems of the four evangelists, and below them two flocks
of sheep hastening to Christ from the towns of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
The celebrated Pine Forest of Ravenna, or La Pineta, probably
the most venerable and extensive in Italy, which has been extolled
by Dante, Boccaccio, Dryden, Byron, and other poets, begins a little
beyond the church of S. Apollinare, and extends for many miles
along the road to Rimini, as far as Cervia. If the traveller prolong
his excursion for l1^ nr- beyond S. Apollinare he may drive
through the nearer extremity of the forest. (The whole drive to
S. Apollinare, the Pineta, and S. Maria Fuori occupies about 4 hrs )
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