Ravello - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

RAVELLO, a village of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, about 3 m. N.N.E. of Amalfi by road, 1227 ft. above sea-level. It commands a magnificent view. Pop. (1901) 1851. The history of Ravello cannot be traced beyond the 9th century. In the 11th it was called Rebellum, because it refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of Amalfi, and in the 13th, when at the height of its prosperity, it had 36,000 inhabitants. The Palazzo Rufolo, begun in the 11th century, has two lofty towers and beautiful Saracenic decoration in the courtyard. The ex-cathedral of S. Pantaleo, almost entirely modernized, has fine bronze doors by Barisanus of Trani (1179), and two pulpits in Cosmatesque work. The larger, supported by six columns resting on the backs of lions, was made in 1272 by Nicolaus of Foggia;' the bust over the entrance to it is said to be a portrait of Sigilgaita Rufolo. The smaller, of the same date, is simpler, and has curious representations of Jonah and the whale. The parish church of S. Giovanni in Toro, spoilt by restorations in the 18th century, contains a splendid pulpit in Cosmatesque work, supported on four pillars, and the crypt some 14th-century frescoes. In front of it is the porch of the Palazzo dell' Afflitto, composed of ancient fragments. S. Maria Immacolata is another Romanesque church.

See A. Avena, Monumenti dell' Arte Meridionale (Naples, 1902), i. 349 sqq