San Severo and religious life in Ravenna during the ninth and tenth centuries

In 2006, new investigations began at San Severo in Classe (Ravenna). Until then, knowledge had been limited to the great late antique basilica, built in the second half of the sixth century, close to the mausoleum and the Roman villa underneath. The buildings had been brought to light in the 1960s, following a series of massive excavation campaigns. It had long been realized that this ecclesiastical site was extremely important: it was the last great basilica to be built in the second half of the sixth century in the late antique conurbation of Ravenna, which included the walled city itself, the suburb called Caesarea and the port city of Classe. The basilica of San Severo was within the walls of Classe (Figure 13.1), and it was similar in size and decoration to the nearby suburban sanctuary of S. Apollinare in Classe. Building San Severo was the last great act of monumental character to construct the urban space of the enlarged capital of the late antique western empire: with this, a complex, centuries-long project came to a close. The current excavations are being conducted by the University of Bologna (Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà), in collaboration with the RavennAntica Foundation (Figure 13.2). 1 This chapter, which is divided into several parts, focuses on the most substantial finds brought to light since 2008: the previously unidentified remains of the medieval monastery. The first section presents, through the written sources, the general framework in which the monastery evolved between the ninth century and the fifteenth. It is followed by a section on the archaeological evidence, offering a series of discussions about the various parts of the monastery so far excavated.