Monasteri greci a Ravenna nell’alto Medioevo(VI-X secolo): storia e archeologia

Monasteries and Greek monastic communities occupy a prominent position in the analysis of the transformations of Ravenna between the mid-6th and 8th centuries. They are not well documented by written testimonies but according to many scholars their role, mostly political, was of extraordinary importance. According to Guillou, for example, Greek monks tried to defend the autonomy of the clergy of Ravenna from that of Rome. There are some descriptions of the ceremonial and the processions carried out by the monks in support of the bishop of Ravenna, in his transfers outside the city. Few surviving structures and most of the Greek communities were quickly replaced, especially by monks and Benedictine abbots, immediately after the victory of the Franks over the Lombards in the middle of the eighth century. In this contribution I will try to describe the current knowledge of the monasteries of S. Maria in Cosmedin, of S. Lorenzo in Caesarea, S. Teodoro and S. Maria ad blachernas, especially from a material point of view, trying to approach these monastic complexes also other religious buildings that were probably managed by the Hellenophone clergy, in these centuries very complex and little studied of the early Middle Ages Ravenna.