The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-01-18
Isavenna
Shrine Of Dante and Reliqu-
ary of Rome ).

! Washington. Jan. 12.-.Many
n.can place marks the shrine Of a
great man: but in Ravenna crowds
are honorins Dante in a city as
nearly unique Us the singular gen..
ius Of that poet says a bulletin
from the Washington. D. c.. head
quarters OF the National Geo
graphic Society.
Its geographical position once
rendered it an Tn1presnablc City
or the Sea and preserved it as a
..polnpeii OF the Byzantine Era It's
; ! resent interest is associated with
the 6etth Anniversary of the death
! of Dante who is buried there; but
its permanent significance lies in
the fact tha, it was the death bed
of the (Roman) Empire and its
tomb.
/ "Ravenna is the Hamlet Of Ita!-
! ian cities. To its isolation and.
solitude it owed, the presence Of
the cmperors Of declining Rome,
and the same quality has preserved
the mystic spirit of the four cen
turies. the fifth 30 eighth. which it
alone typifics.
How Geography Made Ravenna
"Recali that the Apennines cut
across the upper pa.t OF the ftai-
Ian boot from Genoa to RimIni. just
north OF Ravcnna. There The range
! turns south. short of the Adriatic.
Ravenna therefore has a stretegic
position in relation TO Cisalplne
Gaui. the Italian peninsula and the
! .AdriatIc
! This position. in conjunction
with It's inacccssibility made the
! little town OF Gallia Cisafpina,
Caesars rendezvous to plot with
Roman adhcrcnts while he cam
! paigncd in Gaul, into the mighty
Ravenna. where Honorius first
! established an imperial residence,
I Cdacer set up 4 kingdom, and The
odoric the Ostrogoth finally es-
tal.,;sl1cd a Versailles OF the nedf-
eIal world.
..Eavenna was inaccessible be
cavse It was laid out along canals
tanonS marshes. The tide was the
:sanitarvasent. The principal COM
plants in this respect We're against
| flies and frogs and an inatieI
water supply. one Writer rs $.
/ we were thirsty in the midst of
! the waves. Martial wrote:
That landlord ut Ravenr1a is
plinIy. but cheat, I paid for wine
ard water, but he served wine to
! me- neat
( The Brooklyn Of Europe
"ArchitecturaEIy Ravenna is the
Brooklyn Of Europe. It's churches
arc unique because they exhibit
the threcfold influence OF Roman.
BYZANTINE and Christian art. "a
dozen CT. more OF these edifices are
counted Of high artistic and his
lEo-icaT merit, and about them en-
! tire volumes have been written.
No place affords such an opPor-
| tunity as Ravenna to study the
years Just before and after the
| "Ravenna long had passed the
zenith Of her influence and power
! when Dante spent the last years OF
I his life there. He was the invited
guest OF Guido Noveilo, lord OF the
| city. whose patronage Of art and
letters llindled flicker among sae
Lcmbers Of the city's great past.
Byron's Description Of Danfces
Tomb
"It is paradoxicat that in city
noted chiefly for its architectural
treasures the ashes of its most
famolSs resident should repose in q
shrine described by Byron as "a
little cupola more neat thar
solemn Byron, it will be recall
ed. lived at Ravenna in 1S20-2
during the time he was enamored
b. the Countess Guiccioli.
The sea has receded from Ra-
VIENNA. its laSoons aow are
marshes. Two streams which are
not navigable and q, canal connect
! j, with the Adriatic 1t is capital
OF the modern province of Ra-
VIENNA. in the compartment OF
En1ilia, and lies As miles east on
Poloyna. It was among the first
cit,es to cast it's vote for Italian
l;n;,v in 1853. Ten years carrier
| Garibaidi's wife. dies in the
marshes outside the city while she
ACCOMPANIED her husband in his>
eth. -Irt,,o ROO,c -