Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna

Our guide was a gentleman named Balthazar - I would absolutely recommend. He has experience as an archaeologist, and our tour group was small so I was able to have a really in depth conversation with him about the history of the sites. I was blown away. The sites we saw were phenomenal. It was a one of a kind trip. As a child, I had this desire to visit Ravenna when I learned of Theodoric through a video game (of all things!) In college, I learned more of the history and saw pictures in class of the mosaics. To see this in person after so many years of dreaming was in every sense a dream come true. I would recommend this tour to everyone. Ravenna may not be a large tourist destination, but being so close to Bologna (and all of Emilia-Romagna), you are where every meal makes a tourist feel like a prince. We were in the middle of tourist season and didn't have to wait in line anywhere in the entire region, which made it feel like we experienced a hidden gem of Italy.