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Ravenna Province
This tiny province lies furthest east in Emilia-Romagna
and lies on the Adriatic.
The area near the coast is an important wetlands and
estuary and has served as a strategic defensive position
for hundreds of years.
The local cuisine is famous for its seafood and meat
dishes.
An inspiration to many famous artists and scholars
still today, the area can be very crowded with tourists
in the high season.
The capital city of the province is Ravenna, and lies
a bit inland, but is attached to the sea by canal.
It was once the capital of the Ostrogoth kingdom that
briefly united post-Roman Italy in the 5th and 6th centuries
before invasions by the Lombards and Franks. However,
it is historically famous as the site where Julius Caesar
gathered his troops before crossing the Rubicon, effectively
ending the Roman Republic. Then as now, it is connected
to both Rome and Bologna by major arterial roads.
The city of Ravenna is home to some very famous architecture
dating back to the 4th century, though much of the ancient
relics were looted by Charlemagne on three looting missions
that were granted by the Pope before the territory was
absorbed by the Papal States.
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