Hidden behind a colourful patchwork of warped homes, this low-slung, wood-beamed, delightfully uneven medieval walkway dates to 1290. It's unique in Italy because it began life as a defensive wall that was later incorporated into the town's commercial space (as an elevated pathway for donkeys carrying gypsum from nearby quarries). Today, former donkey stables now hide private homes (and one dental office) that sit atmospherically along 100m of picturesque, non-uniform arches, flanked by at least one surviving guard tower.
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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
24.97 MILES
Sometimes, after weeks of strolling around dark Italian churches, you can lose your sense of wonder. Not here! The lucid mosaics that adorn the altar of…
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
25.21 MILES
An old legend states that Pope Gregory the Great once ordered the Apollinare's mosaics to be blackened as they were distracting worshippers from prayer. A…
25.02 MILES
In the same complex as Basilica di San Vitale, the small but equally incandescent Mausoleo di Galla Placidia was constructed for Galla Placidia, the half…
28.3 MILES
The 15th-century Palazzo Casa Fontana poi Gamberini – the fascinating, pricier-than-the-Colosseum home of eccentric Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla …
28.03 MILES
Bologna's most unique religious site is this atmospheric labyrinth of interlocking ecclesiastical structures, whose architecture spans centuries of…
28.28 MILES
Bologna's hulking Gothic basilica is Europe's sixth-largest church, measuring 132m by 66m by 47m. Work began on it in 1390, but it was never finished, and…
Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna
28 MILES
This mouthful of a museum inside Palazzo Sanguinetti – the former home of Napoleon's Italian minister – chronicles six centuries of European musical…
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe
25.23 MILES
This signature early Christian basilica, lighter than Ravenna's other churches, is situated 5km southeast of town in the former Roman port of Classe. Its…
Nearby Emilia-Romagna attractions
0.04 MILES
Though not all that old by Italian standards (it was erected in 1850), the dramatic panoramas afforded by Maghinardo Pagani's clock tower are spectacular…
0.15 MILES
Standing sentinel high above town on a gypsum hilltop, this medieval fortress, along with the Torre dell'Orologio and Santuario del Monticino on…
1.18 MILES
Located 1.6km west of town, this remarkable stone-and-brick church, the oldest in the Valle del Lamone, dates at least to the 10th century. It's perhaps…
24.82 MILES
Consecrated in 1749, Ravenna's baroque cathedral was built atop the remains of a much earlier church. Artefacts from the original 5th-century cathedral…
24.84 MILES
A museum with a difference, this religious gem is on the 2nd floor of the Archiepiscopal Palace. It hides two not-to-be-missed exhibits: an exquisite…
24.84 MILES
Roman ruins aside, this is Ravenna's oldest intact building, constructed over the site of a former Roman bathing complex in the late 4th century. Built in…
7. Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra
24.86 MILES
Not nearly as impressive as the Unesco site mosaics, but still worth a look for serious aficionados, these 6th-century floor mosaics from a 14-room late…
24.89 MILES
This newer museum doubles-down on Ravenna's extraordinary history of mosaic work by chronicling 12 centuries of history, using technology and multimedia…