Known for its basilica, Classe is located south of Ravenna, the city of mosaics.
The current settlement of Classe is a little town which expanded and developed around the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Unesco World Heritage monument of Ravenna (6th century AD), built on the place of martyrdom of Ravenna's first bishop.
It has little in common with the ancient city of Classe (Civitas Classis), located up north, where the Fiumi Uniti river flows.
The name of this little town refers to ‘Castrum Classis’, which was the permanent Roman military camp ordered by the great emperor Augustus to surveil and control the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe is one of Emilia-Romagna's most important monuments, acknowledged by Unesco as a World Heritage monument for its marvelous Byzantine Age mosaics.
But Classe is also the entrance door to the Pine forest of Classe, one of the most important green lungs of Ravenna, and as such an integral part of the Po Delta Park.
It’s very easy to reach it by bike or running, and from here, in little time you'll have the chance to admire some of the most important naturalistic treasures of Ravenna, such as the Oasis of the Ortazzo and of the Ortazzino, the mouth of the Bevano river, but also the pine forest itself, mentioned by Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy (Purgatorio XXVIII, vv. 19-21) and Boccaccio, who set the novella of Nastagio degli Onesti here.
Important treasures from a historical and cultural point of view find in the sprawling Archaeological Park of Classe their most vital focus.
The Archaeological Park of Classe is a complex including, besides the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Classis Ravenna - Museum of the City and of the Territory and the Ancient Port of Classe.
The museum is a huge exhibition area hosted inside a former local sugar refinery. It traces the history of the territory back through archaeological finds; whereas the Ancient Port is an outdoor archaeological site that once was - as the name itself suggests - the harbour area of the ancient town of Classe.
Ravenna is closer than you might expect and it’s easy to reach thanks to a cycling path that connects the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe to the centre of Ravenna.
The southern beach towns of Ravenna (Lido di Dante, Lido di Classe and Lido di Savio) are not too far from Classe, and you can reach the amusement park Mirabilandia thanks to a bus service departing from the train station of Classe.