Description of the attraction
The garden of the Palazzo della Provincia in Ravenna is one of the most unusual attractions in the resort town. It is notable for the fact that it is located on the roof of the aforementioned Palazzo, and also occupies part of the Rasponi crypt.
Palazzo della Provincia was built between 1925 and 1928 by the architect from Piacenza Giulio Ulysse Arata. The building itself is a fine example of New Romantic architecture with a very noticeable influence of Byzantine architecture. This is especially noticeable in the corridor at the main entrance with its vast space, internal galleries and amazing mosaics made of colored wood. The palazzo stands on the very spot where another aristocratic palace, Palazzo Rasponi, was located in the 17th century. The latter was turned into a hotel in 1886, and in 1922 it completely burned down during a fire.
The ruins of that ancient palace, including the Rasponi family crypt and the hanging terraces above Via Santi, which connected the Palazzo to the storage rooms, bear traces of different architectural styles and periods. The crypt contains a mosaic on the floor that dates from the 6th century and was once part of the Church of San Severo. The entrance arch to the Hanging Gardens is made of a marble clock face that was long ago on the façade of the churches of San Sebastiano and San Marco and was removed from there in 1783.
At the end of the 19th century, a neo-Gothic tower was placed on the grounds of the hanging gardens, not far from the Rasponi crypt. And the part of the garden that surrounds the fountain is more modern - it was included in the plan of the architect Arata and was designed in accordance with the canons of creating gardens in the style of the Italian Renaissance.
