Ravenna tardoantica: Il "Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis" e le recenti scoperte archeologiche

The article is devoted to the interpretation of some passages of the well-known medieval text entitled "Liber pontificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis", by Andrea Agnello (9th century), considered by many scholars to be a proto-historical of the city. An analysis was made to provide a comparative reading between literary sources and archaeological discoveries, in adherence with recent archaeological methodology increasingly involved in the understanding of the constituent features of the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages, from a monumental-urban profile, of a city that was a vital centre of social, cultural and economic exchange in late antiquity: Ravenna. The case study examined focused on four specific architectural realities: the city walls, the palace of Theodoric, and the basilicas of St. Severus and Petriana.