To Ravenna: Crossing the Rubicon

October 18, 2020

Today we have a short, ultra flat ride north to Ravenna to see its early Christian and Byzantine mosaics, one of the treasures of the western art world. There are eight sites, all listed on the UNESCO world heritage list under a single designation. We’ll see four of them, the ones clustered close together in the central city. We were advised to buy our tickets in advance to avoid waiting in line, which we did online. all four that we’ll see are sold as one ticket, with separate time slots for each selected at the time you book. We’ll visit two this afternoon, and the other two tomorrow before leaving town.

With that in mind, we don’t really give much thought to the ride itself. We wait at our hotel until it feels warm enough to leave, and then bike fairly steadily to make sure we arrive in plenty of time for our first appointment at four PM.

Maybe if we were focused more on the ride we would have been conscious of crossing the famous Rubicon, which reaches the sea about halfway through the ride just north of Bellaria. Knowing where it is now, I remember where we were at the time; and by a stroke of luck I did take a photo of its mouth flowing into the Adriatic. If I’d been aware of it though, we could have staged a Caesarian reenactment of some sort, like maybe shouting Veni, Vidi, Vici as we biked across.

Also, if we’d done the research ahead of time we would have known we’d be passing one of the eight mosaic sights about eight miles before arriving in Ravenna: the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. We were impressed by its exterior as we biked past and took a photo of it also, but with better research and planning we could have ticketed ourselves for a visit to that as well.

And, with really up-to-date research we would have known that the Giro d’Italia is still running (it concluded just this afternoon), and that one of its last stages finished in Cesenatico, the small town we passed through shortly before crossing the Rubicon.

But we didn’t know any of these things. We just biked along in blissful ignorance, as we usually do, snapping photos here and there and being delighted by whatever we chanced upon. Americans!

We crossed several rivers today, and as usual I stopped for a look at most of them. This is the not-so-famous Uso, entering the Adriatic just south of Bellaria.

The mouth of the Rubicon. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It’s not that well marked on maps, actually. It’s only been about thirty years since historians established that this was in fact that river.

In Gatteo a Mare, responsibly masked spectators watch an offshore competition.

Man, does that look like hard work! It’s an offshore criterium, with the contestants poling laps around those offshore reefs. I had no idea that these things (I don’t even know what they’re called) were more than a faddish plaything.

In Cesenatico, crossing the Fosso Venarella, which looks like the mouth of a river but is actually just a short inlet channel. The main thing to notice here though is the colorful bridge.

On the bridge in Cesenatico, beautifully adorned to celebrate the finish of stage 12 of this year’s Giro d’Italia which ended here three days ago.

The inlet in Cesenatico is lined with a fleet of gorgeous wooden boats, presumably also here to celebrate the Giro.

Crossing another short waterway, near Cervia. This one drains the nearby lagoon Salina di Cervia. Cervia looks like it would be a good place to stop over in. It’s much greener than its neighboring communities, rimmed by a long pine forest preserve and with careful controls on its development. It’s also notable as the host of Italy’s first Ironman competition.

Crossing yet another river, the Savio this time. Mostly we were drawn by these fishing nets, a type we’ve never seen before. They’re shore operated lift nets. I didn’t know lift nets were even a thing, but apparently they’re also common in Asia.

This entire region is exceedingly flat. We’ll be in it for at least the next week, I think. We’re going to forget how to climb hills. Darn.

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, one of the eight sites protected under the UNESCO Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna citation. Beautiful from the outside. Maybe we’ll bike up from Pesaro for a look inside someday.

Leaving the unseen Best in Classe mosaics behind us, we continue north in ignorance for the final miles to Ravenna.

We arrived in Ravenna a bit before three, and after checking in to our room quickly showered and changed before rushing off to the first of our mosaic viewing appointments.

We’ll leave it here for now, other than for a few quick shots from our way to and from our room.

The Adriana Gate, one of the few surviving remnants of the fortifications that once encircled Ravenna. The city was completely girded by walls six meters high and two meters thick, but most were destroyed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The typical look of the streets in the old city.

Atypically, some are dense with pedestrians and cyclists. Rimini was like this also, with a few streets so dense that we felt claustrophobic.

The baroque facade of Santi Giovanni e Paolo Church. The church dates to the sixth century, but was completely redesigned in the 18th.

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Ride stats today: 38 miles, 500’; for the tour: 1635 miles, 76,700’

Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km)
Total: 1,635 miles (2,631 km)

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Jacquie GaudetIt might amuse you to know that Al's cycling "club" calls itself Veni Velo Vici. At least some of them are old enough (and British enough) that they took Latin in school.
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4 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jacquie GaudetNice to know! I too took Latin in my non-Catholic high school, I think in tenth grade. I was treasurer of the Latin club, and wore a gold-trimmed toga to the club party. I haven’t thought of that in many years. I suspect this was one of the last years it was still taught there.
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4 years ago