Roman Mosaic - tour & workshop in Ravenna

Become a mosaicist for a day! Come and discover the art of mosaic. Before or after visiting the UNESCO monuments of Ravenna with its wonderful mosaics, also you can become a mosaicist for a day! You will have the opportunity to discover the world of mosaic by visiting a real artisan workshop: you will be shown the materials used, the special tools used to cut the tiles, the different execution techniques. You will witness the manual cutting of the tiles using traditional tools: hammer and cutting board. You can choose among some Byzantine motifs that you can admire in the monuments of the city and use glassy materials produced in the ancient furnaces of Venice. You will actively participate in all stages of processing. At the end of the experience you can bring home a souvenir of Ravenna made with your own hands.

In the heart of Ravenna, the capital of mosaic which boasts the beauty of 8 UNESCO monuments, Patrimony of the Humanity, you can create a precious mosaic jewel in a real artisan workshop, where the materials employed are used in little manufactures of Venice and Florence.   Barbara, an expert mosaicist, will receive you with warmth in her laboratory and after a good coffee, she will tell you about the techniques of the byzantine mosaics and contemporary ones and of the high-quality materials employed. If you would like to be always updated about our activities, please subscribe to our newsletter here, or contact us at +39 0544 482838. 

City walk to discover the main exhibition spaces that characterize the 8th edition of the Contemporary Mosaic Biennale:   Palazzo Rasponi dalle Teste: Episodes of Contemporary Mosaics   Biblioteca Classense: International Award GAeM - Young Artists and Mosaic - Sixth edition 2023 Zhanna Kadyrova: Palianitsya   Antichi Chiostri Francescani: WORKS FROM AROUND THE WORLD, the light of black and gold

Create your own mosaic!   Would you like to make your own house number or the initial of your name in mosaic? I am waiting for you in my laboratory Pixel Mosaics to help you create your mosaic. After a brief tour in the history of Ravenna mosaic, I will show you which materials you may utilize and the traditional tools used to cut the tiles. I will follow you through all the stages of processing, from the preparation of cement mortar, to the cutting of materials and the realization of your artwork. At the end of the course you will create with your own hands a souvenir of Ravenna to take home!

Become a mosaicist for a day! Before or after visiting the UNESCO monuments of Ravenna with its wonderful mosaics, come and discover, together with your child, the art of mosaic. You will have the opportunity to find out about the world of mosaic by visiting a real artisan workshop: you will be shown the materials used, the special tools used to cut the tiles, the different execution techniques. You will witness the manual cutting of the tiles using traditional tools. You and your child will be guided throughout all the stages of processing. At the end of the experience you can bring home a souvenir of Ravenna made with your own hands.

The mosaicists of Ravenna open the doors of their workshops to this special initiative to promote the art that most characterizes our city: the mosaic.  Do not miss this incredible opportunity on the occasion of the Contemporary Mosaic Biennial to carry out, at a super subsidized price, a mosaic workshop. After a short visit and introduction to history and techniques, assisted by a skilled craftsman, you will make a small mosaic object to take home as an indelible memory of the time spent in Ravenna.  

Customize your visit to discover the VIII edition of the Contemporary Mosaic Biennial.   Accompanied by a local guide, we will take you on a journey to discover the art that most characterizes Ravenna: the mosaic.  Walking along the streets of the historic center you will retrace the history of the mosaic from its testimonies of the early Christian era, to the modern and contemporary declinations, visiting the exhibition BURRIRAVENNAORO, hosted by the MAR-Art Museum of the City of Ravenna, dedicated to one of the most important artists of the twentieth century: Alberto Burri, leader of Italian informal expressive research.

In the heart of Ravenna, a World Heritage Site, Koko Mosaico carries on the language of the mosaic, constantly renewing it, without losing sight of its roots.   The workshop is like an ancient art shop, where you can buy and order mosaics and learn the techniques of realization. At the same time you can admire the contemporary works of the artist Luca Barberini.   The course we propose is just a small taste of the grandeur of this ancient art. You can realize a copy of an ancient mosaic of the Roman or Byzantine period, directly created on cement mortar.   After a brief introduction to the mosaic and the cutting of the tiles with the ancient tools of the trade - small hammer and carbide hardie -  you will actively participate to every phase of realization of your artwork: from the drafting of the cement mortar, to the completion of the mosaic.   You can use precious materials that were already used in the ancient times as marble, Venetian enamels and golden tiles, depending on the copy you chose to recreate.   The objective will be to realize a mosaic of about 10x10 cm.

Create together your mosaic ready to be hung at your house wall. Attending this course you will have the possibility to share a special moment with your dear ones, learning the techniques of an ancient craft.   You will realize a mosaic from the beginning to end, learning and having fun.   The mosaic workshop consists in visiting the laboratory: there is an explication of the work of the mosaicist, a demonstration of the cut of the marble to obtain the cards with the ancient instruments: small hammer and carbide hardie, preparation of the cement, printing of the grid and execution of a mosaic with dimensions of about 30x30 cm (this dimension allows you to the simultaneous machining of four people).   The mosaic you have to realize will be yours and will be ready to be hung at your house wall.   The objective will be to realize a mosaic of about 30x30 cm.

Let us accompany you to discover the exhibitions, organized at the MAR - Museo d'Arte della Città, on the occasion of the VIII edition of the Biennial of Contemporary Mosaic. BURRIRAVENNAORO, temporary exhibition curated by Bruno Corà, aims to retrace the intense relationship that Alberto Burri had with Ravenna. The artist of material paintings comes, in his latest productions, to elaborate works inspired by the culture and history of the mosaic city; through the contrast of black and gold colors, shady areas and light, Burri embodies and transfigures the topicality of a city in which the splendor of the past has gradually intertwined with productive and industrial developments of the present. Thanks to this exhibition you will have the opportunity to admire nearly 100 works that earned Burri the National Prize of the Lincei for Graphic Art.   The guided tour will continue with the Collection of Contemporary Mosaics, recently redesigned, to retrace the development that the mosaic technique has had from the second decade of the twentieth century. The pivotal moment of the renewal of the mosaic art is the 1959 Exhibition of Modern Mosaics, whose works represent the core of the collection and on which the entire collection has been developed.   At the end of the tour, participants can continue independently to visit the exhibitions "The Physical Memory of Matter"; "Ettore Sottsass - The Dead City" and the Municipal Art Gallery.

Guided tour in English language to a Mosaic workshop, where you will have a glance at the works of the master mosaicist. For more than 1500 years, Ravenna has been passing down the extraordinary artistic tradition linked to the mosaic that made it, together with its 8 UNESCO monuments, famous all over the world. Every Saturday a guided tour starts at 11.30 am and will make you discover this amazing art, visiting one of the workshops of the city centre, where the traditional techniques meet contemporary projects and ideas.

Become a mosaicist for a day! Before or after visiting the UNESCO monuments of Ravenna with its wonderful mosaics, come and discover, together with your family, the art of mosaic. You will have the opportunity to find out about the world of mosaic by visiting a real artisan workshop: you will be shown the materials used, the special tools used to cut the tiles, the different execution techniques. You will witness the manual cutting of the tiles using traditional tools. You and your children will be guided throughout all the stages of processing. At the end of the experience you can bring home a souvenir of Ravenna made with your own hands.

Realize your souvenir! The mosaic you can realize could be a copy of an ancient mosaic of the roman period or bizantine one and can be directly created on cementer mortar. After a little introduction at the mosaic and at the card’s cut with the ancient tools of the trade, small hammer and carbide hardie, you will actively participate at every phase of the realization of you piece: from the drafting of the cementer mortar to the finalisation of the mosaic. You can use high-quality materials that were used in the olden days as marble, Venetian enamels and golden tiles depending on the copy you have decided to recreate.   The objective will be to realize a mosaic of about 17x17 cm.