Italian Byzantine art (l'arte bizantina italiana, the specific visual production in Italy from approximately the 5th to the 13th century CE that employed the specific Byzantine visual vocabulary (the gold ground, the frontal pose (the en face position of the sacred figure that addresses the viewer directly rather than inhabiting a specific narrative space), the specific hieratic scale (the specific Byzantine compositional convention of scaling the figure according to its spiritual importance rather than its physical position in the pictorial space, the Christ is the tallest figure regardless of perspective), and the specific smalto veneziano (the Venetian glass enamel mosaic technology (the gold-leaf-in-glass tessera that produces the most luminous single ancient surface material)))) is the most specifically extraordinary single art tradition in the Italian territory and the one that most specifically distinguishes the Italian visual heritage from every other European visual tradition. The specific Italian contribution to Byzantine art: Italy wasn't a satellite of Byzantium but the territory where the Byzantine visual vocabulary was most creatively developed and most durably preserved, the specific Ravenna mosaic workshops (active from the 5th to the 12th century CE (a period of 700 years) whose specific production includes the most extensively documented single Byzantine mosaic program in the world) outlasted Byzantium's own collapse (the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Constantinople) by approximately 200 years.
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Italian Byzantine Art: The Specific Sites and What to See
Ravenna. The Byzantine Capital in the West
Ravenna (the specific Emilia-Romagna city that was the capital of the Western Roman Empire (402-476 CE), the Ostrogothic Kingdom (493-540 CE), and the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna (540-751 CE)): the most important single Italian Byzantine art site and the one whose specific UNESCO World Heritage inscription (1996, "Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna") covers 8 specific monuments (the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Neonian Baptistery, the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Arian Baptistery, the Archiepiscopal Chapel, the Mausoleum of Theodoric, the Basilica of San Vitale, and the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe) whose combined mosaic surface (approximately 10,000 square metres of early Christian and Byzantine mosaic) is the most extensive single surviving early Christian mosaic program in the world. The specific Ravenna UNESCO combined ticket (the biglietto cumulativo dei siti UNESCO di Ravenna, the combined admission to 5 specific UNESCO Ravenna monuments): €11.50 (available at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and all 5 included monuments, the most cost-efficient single Ravenna cultural buy). The Ravenna Byzantine art highlight: the San Vitale apse (the specific 6th-century apse mosaic (the Empress Theodora and the Emperor Justinian I court processional mosaic (the specific court portrait (the specific 547 CE mosaic whose specific portrait faces (the Theodora, the Justinian, and the specific court attendants) are the most specifically individualized single Byzantine mosaic portraits of any surviving Byzantine image program)): the most politically important single Byzantine artwork in Italy.
Italian Byzantine Art: tours & tickets
Compare guided tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips for Italian Byzantine Art.
See availability & prices →Compare tours on Viator →We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.Palermo Cappella Palatina. The Arab-Norman-Byzantine Summit
The Cappella Palatina (the Royal Chapel, the Palazzo dei Normanni, Palermo. GPS: 38.1121°N, 13.3518°E): the most architecturally complex single Italian Byzantine art interior (the specific 1130-1143 Roger II commission (the 12th-century Norman King of Sicily whose specific cultural synthesis mandate (the Byzantine mosaic program + the Arab muqarnas ceiling (the honeycomb-stalactite carved wooden ceiling) + the Romanesque nave proportions) created the most specifically layered single cultural art program in any European building). The specific Cappella Palatina Byzantine mosaic program: the entire surface of the nave and the crossing (the pavimento in opus sectile, the walls, the apse, and the vault) is covered in the specific gold-ground Byzantine mosaic (the total mosaic surface: approximately 1,800 square metres, the most concentrated single Byzantine mosaic surface per square metre of floor plan of any Italian church). The specific Christ Pantocrator (the specific 12th-century Christ Pantocrator mosaic in the main apse: the same specific Byzantine iconography (the blessing right hand, the Gospel book in the left hand, and the specific Greek inscription (the IC XC. Iesous Christos)) as the Ravenna Galla Placidia program, executed 600 years later in the most consistently Byzantine single stylistic vocabulary of any Italian medieval art commission). Admission: €10 (pre-book at coopculture.it). Open Monday-Saturday 9:00-17:00, Sunday 9:00-13:00.
Venice San Marco and Torcello
The Basilica di San Marco (the Venice patron saint basilica, the GPS: 45.4344°N, 12.3388°E): the most internationally visited single Italian Byzantine art building (the specific 5-domed church (the cross-in-square (the Greek cross-plan with the 5 domes) modelled directly on the specific Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople (demolished 1461) whose specific description in the specific Procopius "De Aedificiis" (the 6th century CE architectural description of the Justinian building program) was used as the specific design template for the 9th-century Venice basilica): the most specifically Venetian-Byzantine single monument. The San Marco Pala d'Oro (the specific altarpiece, the specific 10th-12th century Byzantine goldsmith work (the 250 enamel panels in the specific cloisonné enamel technique (the specific Byzantine enamel art whose specific cell-and-glass composition (the gold wire cells filled with the specific enamel paste) creates the most specifically jewel-like single Byzantine artwork)): the single most valuable Byzantine object in Italy. Torcello (the Venice lagoon island (the GPS: 45.4762°N, 12.4181°E. ACTV vaporetto (Venice water bus) Line 12 from Fondamente Nove: 60 minutes, €9.50)): the specific 7th-century lagoon island cathedral (the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, the oldest single surviving Byzantine mosaic in the Venice lagoon territory (the specific 11th-12th century Last Judgment mosaic (the Giudizio Universale, the west wall mosaic whose specific 5-register program (the Anastasis, the Hell, the Elect, the Paradise, and the central Judge) is the most specifically complete single Italian medieval Last Judgment mosaic program): the most specifically emotionally affecting single Byzantine artwork in the Venice lagoon.
Q&A: Italian Byzantine Art
What is the specific difference between Byzantine art and early Christian art?
The specific art historical distinction: early Christian art (the arte paleocristiana, the 1st-5th century CE period): the specific visual vocabulary is still closely related to the Roman classical tradition (the specific catacomb paintings (the catacomb frescoes whose specific narrative scenes still use the specific Roman landscape setting (the pictorial landscape background), the specific foreshortening (the Roman perspective technique), and the specific classical figure proportion)). Byzantine art proper (the arte propriamente bizantina, from the specific Justinian period (527-565 CE) onward): the specific abandonment of the classical illusionistic tradition (the specific flat gold ground replacing the specific pictorial landscape background. The specific frontal figure pose replacing the specific classical contrapposto. The specific linear drapery replacing the specific illusionistic body mass modelling) that represents the most specifically radical single art historical transition in the Western visual tradition, a deliberate rejection of classical mimesis in favor of the specific theological program (the specific Byzantine theology of the icon (the specific Theology of the Image (the Iconoclasm controversy (726-787 CE and 814-842 CE) whose specific resolution (the specific Second Council of Nicaea (787 CE) that settled the specific theological justification for the representation of the divine in material form)) produces the specific post-iconoclasm Byzantine art style of the 9th-12th century that the Ravenna, Palermo, and Venice mosaics most specifically exemplify).
