The Embassy of Italy in London hosted an event in collaboration with Municipality of Ravenna celebrating the city’s ties with the UK and its ancient tradition of magnificent mosaics. The event was also an occasion to mark two important anniversaries: 30 years since Ravenna’s eight early Christian monuments were inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List, and 1500 years since the death of Theodoric, the Ostrogoth king who ruled Italy from Ravenna from 493 to 596 AD.
In his welcome address, Ambassador Fabio Cassese highlighted the links between the city of Ravenna and London, reinforced by the state visit by King Charles and Queen Camilla last year. The Mayor of Ravenna, Alessandro Barattoni, spoke about the role of Ravenna’s mosaics in building cultural relations, for example the mosaics loaned by the city to the Embassy of Italy in London and a mosaic of the Empress Theodora to the Victoria & Albert Museum
Ravenna’s Deputy Mayor for Culture and Tourism, Fabio Sbaraglia, reflected on Ravenna’s historic role as a political and cultural centre of the Mediterranean, shaped by the merging of the Ostrogoth culture of Theodoric with the existing Roman culture.
The head of the Ravenna Tourism Service, Maria Grazia Marini, then led a conversation with Byzantine specialists Professor Maria Cristina Carile and Professor Judith Herrin, in which they explored the artistic and historic value of the Ravenna mosaics, the legacy of Theodoric’s rule, and the warm relations between Ravenna and the UK, strengthened by the royal visit last year.
The municipality of Ravenna will have a stand at the World Travel Market, which takes place in London this week. There they will be launching a contest whose winners will be invited for a bespoke visit of Ravenna.
