Porta Ravegnana, Ravenna

Porta Ravegnana isn’t what you usually imagine a gate should be. Besides, it never was the city gate of Ravenna in the first place. This undoubtedly beautiful arch was created as a decoration. Today it adorns one of the streets that leads to the historical center of the city.

History and design

The gate was built in 1785 according to the project by the architect Camillo Morigia. They were installed inside Ravenna walls and couldn’t really be considered the city gate, and they didn’t need to be. Its creation was marking the celebration of the Via Ravegnana street opening that is leading to the city. By the way, guerrillas and ally forces that liberated Ravenna from nazis walked through this very arch into the city on December 4, 1994.

The arch is made of bricks in a typical sober Classical style which is accompanied by various elements such as Istrian stone, marble bas-reliefs, and some decorative details. The gate is crowned with a marble medallion that has Ravenna’s coat of arms depicted on it. On the internal northern gate part, there is a memorial plaque proving that liberators did in fact entered the city.

By the way, the ancient arch called Portonaccio to which the gate owes its second name used to stand here before.

How to get

Porta Ravegnana is located a little south of the city center, on Vicolo Portonaccio, 89. Other gates can be found in a few hundred meters from here, for example, Porta Sisi, Porta San Mamante, and Porta Nuova. The bus stop called San Rocco is situated nearby. You can catch the bus № 3 there.