The Most Beautiful Sacred Places in Emilia-Romagna
10 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful sacred places in Emilia-Romagna are Baptistry of Neon, Modena Cathedral and Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. The list covers 10 sacred places. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Emilia-Romagna owes its most extraordinary sacred buildings to a few decades of history in Ravenna. In the fifth and sixth centuries the town was in turn capital of the Western Roman Empire, of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric and of Byzantine Italy, and each ruler covered its churches in mosaics of glass and gold. While Rome and Constantinople lost most of theirs, Ravenna's survived, making it the best place in the world to see early Christian mosaic art.
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is a small brick building whose deep blue dome is scattered with gold stars. The Baptistery of Neon shows the baptism of Christ in its dome, ringed by the twelve apostles, while the Basilica of San Vitale holds the famous panels of the emperor Justinian and the empress Theodora with their courts. In Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, built under Theodoric, long processions of martyrs and virgins walk along the nave walls towards Christ and the Virgin.
Theodoric's own Mausoleum is a different kind of wonder: a two-storey tomb roofed by a single enormous block of Istrian stone. Away from Ravenna, the Baptistery of Parma, an octagon of pink Verona marble begun by Benedetto Antelami in 1196, carries the story into the Romanesque.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baptistry of Neon | Church building | ✓ |
| 2 | Modena Cathedral | Cathedral | ✓ |
| 3 | Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca | Church building | ✓ |
| 4 | Mausoleum of Theodoric | Mausoleum | ✓ |
| 5 | Mausoleum of Galla Placidia | Mausoleum | ✓ |
| 6 | Baptistery of Parma | Church building | |
| 7 | Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna | Church building | ✓ |
| 8 | Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna | Church building | ✓ |
| 9 | Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe | Church building | ✓ |
| 10 | Archbishop's Chapel, Ravenna | Church building | ✓ |
01 Baptistry of Neon
Battistero Neoniano
Italy · 1.9 km from Ravenna44.416° N 12.197° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Clodette662000 · CC BY-SA 4.0 From outside it looks unremarkable, partly because the ground has risen around it: the original floor now lies about three metres below street level. The eight sides follow a scheme used in nearly every early Christian baptistery, eight standing for the seven days of creation plus the day of resurrection. The effect is saved entirely for the interior, where almost every surface above the arches is covered in mosaic, marble inlay and stucco.
Did you know? The twelve apostles wear robes alternating white and gold against a deep blue ground, and each carries a crown to offer to Christ.
02 Modena Cathedral
Duomo di Modena
Italy · 0.6 km from Modena44.646° N 10.925° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by Ermaf62 from Pixabay The west front carries Wiligelmus's reliefs of Genesis, from the creation of Adam and Eve through the Fall to the story of Noah. They are counted among the masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture, and the figures are heavy, direct and full of feeling. The two lions at the main portal are Roman, probably dug up during the foundations and put back to work.
03 Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca
Santuario della Madonna di San Luca
Italy · 4.1 km from Bologna44.479° N 11.298° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by alex1965 from Pixabay The icon is the heart of the place. Tradition holds that a pilgrim brought it from Constantinople in the 12th century and that it was painted by Saint Luke. In 1160 the bishop of Bologna, Gerardo Grassi, gave it to a hermitage chapel on the hill kept by two women, Azzolina and Beatrice Guezi. A church was begun in 1193, and from 1294 Dominican friars kept the sanctuary until Napoleon's suppression of the religious orders in 1799.
04 Mausoleum of Theodoric
Mausoleo di Teodorico
Italy · 1 km from Ravenna44.425° N 12.209° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Marcospinelli1959 · CC BY-SA 4.0 The stone came from Istria, from a quarry about 400 km away by land. The masons laid it in large squared blocks, the old Roman manner known as opus quadratum, a technique that had been out of use for four centuries. Yet the decoration owes nothing to Roman or Byzantine art; experts reviewing it for UNESCO singled out its Gothic character and noted that it is the only surviving tomb of a king from this period.
Did you know? Below the dome runs a frieze of an unusual pattern, often likened to rows of hanging tongs and compared with motifs in Germanic goldsmiths' work.
05 Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
Italy · 1.8 km from Ravenna44.421° N 12.197° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by chatst2 from Pixabay The effect depends on darkness. Light filters in through thin alabaster panels, modern replacements, set in the narrow windows, and the glass tesserae answer with a deep blue that seems to glow from within. In the dome, golden stars are scattered across a night-blue sky. Above the entrance, a youthful Good Shepherd sits among his sheep in a green landscape, still wholly in the language of late Roman art.
Did you know? The Good Shepherd above the entrance is beardless and dressed in imperial purple and gold, holding a cross-shaped staff instead of a shepherd's crook.
06 Baptistery of Parma
Battistero di Parma
Italy · 1.2 km from Parma44.803° N 10.330° E
Image by valtercirillo from Pixabay The sculptor and architect Benedetto Antelami began the work in 1196, a date recorded in a Latin inscription on the lintel of the north portal. Construction stalled when supplies of Verona marble were cut off by the conflict with Ezzelino da Romano, lord of Verona; by 1216 the walls had reached only the second level of loggias, and work resumed in 1249. The baptistery was consecrated in 1270, still following Antelami's design.
Did you know? Antelami's cycle of the months is incomplete, lacking summer and autumn, and was probably carved for the main portal of the cathedral rather than the baptistery.
07 Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
Basilica di San Vitale
Italy · 1.9 km from Ravenna44.421° N 12.196° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Terragio67 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Bishop Ecclesius began the church in 526, while Ravenna was still ruled by the Ostrogoths. Bishop Maximian consecrated it in 547, after Justinian's armies had retaken Italy. The cost was paid by a local banker, Julius Argentarius, who also funded Sant'Apollinare in Classe nearby. The plan is unusual for a church in the West: an octagon within an octagon, with a domed central space surrounded by a two-storey ambulatory.
Did you know? The two women nearest Theodora are traditionally identified as Antonina, wife of the general Belisarius, and her daughter Ioannina.
08 Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
Italy · 1.3 km from Ravenna44.417° N 12.205° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Simo.Albo80 · CC BY-SA 4.0 The church was built by the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great as his palace chapel and dedicated in 504 to Christ the Redeemer for the Arian faith of the Goths. After the Byzantine conquest it was reconsecrated in 561 under Emperor Justinian to Saint Martin of Tours, a fierce opponent of Arianism, and mosaics that celebrated the king or expressed Arian doctrine were removed.
Did you know? The small Gospel scenes follow the Bible passages that were read aloud in the church during Lent in Theodoric's day.
09 Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe
Italy · 4.6 km from Ravenna44.380° N 12.232° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Marek Śliwecki · CC BY-SA 4.0 The church was begun in the early 6th century under Bishop Ursicinus, paid for by the wealthy banker Julianus Argentarius, who also financed San Vitale in Ravenna. It was consecrated on 9 May 549 by Bishop Maximian and dedicated to Saint Apollinaris, by tradition the first bishop of Ravenna, whose relics it holds. At that time Classe was a busy harbour town, the home of the Roman imperial fleet that gave it its name, classis.
Did you know? Twenty-four columns of Greek marble with wind-blown acanthus capitals line the nave.
10 Archbishop's Chapel, Ravenna
Cappella Arcivescovile
Italy · 1.9 km from Ravenna44.416° N 12.198° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
GFreihalter · CC BY-SA 3.0 The tiny chapel is laid out as a Greek cross, entered through a narrow vestibule. Its lower walls are faced with marble and porphyry, while the upper surfaces and vaults shimmer with mosaic. Above the entrance Christ appears as a young, beardless warrior in armour, a cross over his shoulder, trampling a lion and a serpent: an image read as a pointed answer to the Arian court.
Did you know? Parts of the lost mosaics were replaced in the 16th century with tempera paintings by Luca Longhi.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful sacred places in Emilia-Romagna?
- On our list, Baptistry of Neon ranks first, followed by Modena Cathedral and Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca.
- Why does Ravenna have so many mosaics?
- Ravenna was an imperial and royal capital in the fifth and sixth centuries, and its rulers decorated churches with mosaics. Unlike most cities of the period it escaped later destruction, so eight of its early Christian monuments are now listed together by UNESCO.
- Who was Galla Placidia?
- Galla Placidia was the daughter of the emperor Theodosius I and ruled the Western Roman Empire as regent for her son Valentinian III. The small mausoleum in Ravenna bears her name, although she is probably not buried there.
- What is the roof of Theodoric's Mausoleum made of?
- The dome is a single monolith of Istrian stone, hollowed into a shallow cap and raised into place in the sixth century, an exceptional feat of transport and lifting for its time.
- How many sacred places are on this list in Emilia-Romagna?
- The list covers 10 sacred places.