Ancient Port of Classe: Attraction informations
The remains of the ancient Roman Port of Classe can be seen in a very distant area from the coastline. Its extraordinary position is due to the accumulation of debris brought by the rivers along the coast in the past centuries, distancing the sea from its original position during the Roman Empire.
Porto di Classe, seat of Augustus’s fleet
The city of Classe, was once more developed than the nearby
Ravenna. So much so that it was chosen by Emperor Augustus at the end of the I century A.D. as the placement for the maintenance and protection of his great naval fleet which, in Latin, was in fact translated as
classis.
This position helped the city of Classe to become one of the
main sites in the Mediterranean Sea, and his further development in a very short time.
It is hard to imagine nowadays the extension of its urban fabric, as the city is currently a simple fraction of Ravenna. During the Roman Empire, it was instead a lively site, surrounded by walls and embellished with magnificent Paleochristian churches.
The ancient churches of Classe
We can start to glimpse the importance reached by Classe during the old days through its many churches and shrines. Gathered in range of a few hundred meters we find magnificent cult buildings such as the
Cathedral of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, the
Church of San Severo with its annexed monastery and last but not least the
Cathedral Petriana, that crumbled to the ground after an earthquake in 725 d.C. and was never rebuilt.
Both the excavations in Porto di Classe, and the ones at the
Churches of San Severo and Petriana have been commissioned by the Faculty of Archeology of the University of Bologna, underlining the
richness of their decorations.
Several studies have brought to light the ancient structures of the
port and the huge storage areas where goods from a wide part of the Eastern world arrived.
With the passing of time, the port was discarded after the
falling of the Roman Empire. Sand debris started to fill the main water canal, rendering it useless. Among the many archaeological remains found in this are we have intact amphoras and traces of different buildings.
Nowadays, the archaeological site is part of the
Archaeological Park of Classe, which comprises the
Cathedral of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, the port, the Church of San Severo and other archaeological sites of the territory. Part of the amazing remains found in the excavations can be admired within the
Museo della Città e del Territorio - Classis Ravenna, organized inside the halls of the ex-sugar factory of the city.
The different recovered materials and exhibits belong to different epochs, while the structures and buildings which have been excavated all belong to the period between the 5th and the 6th centuries d.C, when the port reached its highest development as a consequence to the rise of Ravenna as the
capital of the Roman Empire.
In those days, the expansion of both Ravenna and Classe was such as to be one huge metropolis, united by the hamlet of Cesare acting like a bridge between them.
