L’‘invenzione’ delle reliquie di sant’Apollinare e san Severo a Classe. Organizzazione dello spazio monastico in relazione alla presenza di reliquie e pellegrini nella Ravenna altomedievale

During the last years of the Ostrogothic administration, bishop Ursicinus (AD 533-536) patronages the construction of the basilica of St. Apollinaris, close and over a large funerary area used between the Early Imperial Age and the Late Roman period, along the course of the Via Popilia and a few hundred meters away from the gates of the city of Classe. The consecration of the building took place only several years after the Byzantine conquest of the city. The basilica was built directly above the tomb of the proto-bishop, unlike what happens in the church of St. Severus, within the city walls. Also in the mid-sixth century some relics of Apollinaris around were also transferred to the basilica of S. Stefano, near S. Vitale, also built on top of a funerary older shrine. The management of these buildings was entrusted between the 8th and 10th centuries to various communities of Benedictine monks who also manage the influx of pilgrims and the ritual and processional paths during the Middle Ages. In this paper we will highlight the different choices of the monks in the definition and organization of the ritual spaces within the main religious complexes of Ravenna and its territory, trying to highlight the trends and comparing them with the nearby coenobitic communities of Central-Northern Italy.