Abbazia di Pomposa

The cloister leads to the Chapter House, frescoed in the 14th century with a Crucifixion, portraits of St. Benedict and St. Guido, abbot of Pomposa, and monochrome portraits of Prophets. In the nearby Refectory Hall, there are three well-preserved frescoes depicting, from the left, the Last Supper, Christ Enthroned with the Virgin, St. John the Baptist, and the Saints Benedict and Guido, and on the right, the Miracle of St. Guido, in which the blessed abbot transforms water into wine in the presence of the Archbishop of Ravenna, Gebeardo.

Museo Pomposiano is located in what was once the monastery dormitory, above the Chapter House. Inside, there are exhibits from restoration and excavation work: inscriptions, marble, rare stuccoes from the church's original furnishings, majolica, various archaeological finds, and detached frescoes. These artifacts have contributed significantly to our understanding of the various stages of construction of the church, which was built in the 7th-8th centuries in the Ravenna basilica style.

Next to the church stands the 48-meter-high bell tower, built in 1063 by the architect Deusdedit, who wanted to be remembered on the western wall. It is divided into nine modules, each of which, from bottom to top, has increasingly larger and numerous windows that give the building a particular lightness and upward momentum, emphasized by the high pointed roof. The red and yellow brick walls preserve rare ceramic inserts from various Mediterranean countries.