Santi Banchieri Re offers a fascinating survey of the golden age of Ravenna, the sixth century, an age of great bishops and marvellous basilicas, Byzantine emperors, Gothic kings and mythical bankers, such as Julian Agentarius, who financed the building of the great basilicas, making Ravenna famous all over the world for all eternity.
What is examined here is the period following the twilight of the Kingdom of the Goths and the triumph of Byzantium, during which the city made enormous efforts, creating a series of buildings and monuments in keeping with its newfound role as the political capital of the Byzantine dominion in Italy. The Basilicas were a central element in this effort: San Vitale, Sant'Apollinare in Classe and San Michele in Africisco. This process naturally included Classe with the building of Sant'Apollinare and the final episode of this feverish building adventure: the construction of the church of San Severo.
Edited by the great medievalist Carlo Bertelli and Andrea Augenti, professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Bologna, Ravenna section, this volume - published alongside an exhibition housed in the splendid fourteenth century environment of the church of San Nicolò - presents one of the period's great lost treasures, the basilica of San Severo, through its splendid mosaic floor (recovered through archaeological excavations during the sixties and up to today unseen by the public), a significant example of Ravenna's art containing a noteworthy compendium of decorative motifs (geometric, floral and figurative).
The mosaics of San Severo are the starting point for a rich exploration of a broader geographic and political context (the Mediterranean and the Byzantine world), which witnessed the birth and reinforcement of the myth of Ravenna. Through the architecture of the basilicas and the mosaics the leading figures of this extraordinary historical period emerge: the bishop saints (Ecclesius, Ursicinus, Maximianus and Peter), the bankers (Julian Agentarius), the emperors (including Teodoric, Amalasunta, Justinian and Theodora) and above all Saint Severus, the twelfth bishop of Ravenna, and the great basilica consecrated to him which became a place of pilgrimage for centuries.
The volume contains essays by Andrea Augenti, Carlo Bertelli, Cetty Muscolino, Salvatore Cosentino, Raffaele Savigni, Giovanni Montanari, Antonio Panaino, Maria Grazia Maioli, Raffaella Farioli Campanati and Paolo Racagni, followed by a catalogue of the works which is subdivided into ten sections and introduced respectively with texts by Chiara Guarnieri, Raffaella Farioli Campanati, Giovanna Bucci (Mosaics of Ravenna and the Mediterranean), Carlo Bertelli (Portraits in ivory, marble and mosaic), Andrea Augenti (Architecture: the materials of building), Paola Novara (Architectonic decoration), Isabella Baldini Lippolis (Dress and symbols of rank), Enrico Cirelli (Ceramics, commerce, daily life), Paola Degni (Books and writing), Tommaso Gnoli (The epigraphs), Emanuela Ercolani (Coins of the sixth century between commerce and idealogy) and Andrea Gariboldi (The key figures of Sassanid minting in the sixth century). The volume concludes with the appendixes including a general bibliography, edited by Federica Boschi.
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