Yet, for one night, what put this community of 156,000 inhabitants on the world football map was not a museum exhibition, but a ball. And a 46-year-old champion with white boots and a black armband in his curls: Ronaldinho, returning to the pitch eleven years after his last competitive match in Brazil with Fluminense.
When the Brazilian stepped onto the pitch at the Bruno Benelli Stadium for the Serie C derby, a 2-0 victory over Forlì, Ravenna suddenly found itself under the global spotlight.
The match, covered by journalists from several countries and a record-breaking crowd, was broadcast live on Sky in Italy and even reached the big screens in Times Square, New York, where the family of Giallorossi owner Ignazio Cipriani built much of their international prestige with Harry's Bar.
"Our visibility abroad is usually associated with the mosaics, cultural and artistic aspects, and not with sport," says Mayor Alessandro Barattoni, who before the match personally accompanied Ronaldinho through the naves of the Basilica of San Vitale to show him these world-renowned masterpieces up close.
"The opportunity to broadcast the name of Ravenna from our stadium today, thanks to a world football icon like him, is a completely new element for us. Football has long used marketing strategies to promote local communities: with the club's work and the City's collaboration, we will try to understand how to transform all this into a positive and lasting impact for the city."
The Ronaldinho effect swept Ravenna well before kick-off, transforming a third-tier derby into an outsized event. Demand for tickets was so high that the club built an additional temporary stand, specifically to accommodate the renovation and expansion work underway at the Benelli Stadium, already projected toward a future that the city hopes will lead to Serie B promotion.
Alongside the temporary stands, a VIP hospitality area was also built with prices worthy of a Champions League night.
Merchandising also flourished at the pace of a major European club. In the heart of the historic centre, inside the Mercato Coperto, an official Ravenna store was set up, crowded with fans and onlookers throughout the pre-match period.
Alongside traditional team gear, commemorative scarves and the white jersey with gold details, designed especially for the occasion and sold worldwide for €120, sold like hotcakes. Ronaldinho was more than just the cover star: persuaded by Cipriani, Lorenzo Tonetti, and Ariedo Braida, the Brazilian became a shareholder in the club and also the team's official technical sponsor with his R10 brand.
Yet, between the shocking announcement in August by the sea and the kick-off in mid-November, doubts had been swirling around the operation. For months, Dinho hadn't been seen on the streets of the city centre, fueling sceptics' suspicions that the management's intuition was merely a publicity stunt.
Mayor Barattoni flatly rejects this interpretation: "I'm surprised by some of the controversies from those who say, 'But this is marketing,' as if it were something new. Unfortunately, we've seen far worse in football over the years: think of when the son of a Libyan dictator came to play in Serie A, or when every year the Italian Super Cup is brought to countries that don't respect human rights, or the political interference in the World Cup.
"Here, instead, we're pairing a champion who entertained millions of fans with a city that wants to internationalize. I'd leave the controversies to those who don't know Ravenna."
To understand that this wasn't just a circus act, however, you only had to step into the Giallorossi locker room during the week leading up to the derby. Seven intense days, filled with anticipation and tension, during which the group learned to live with the presence of a Ballon d'Or winner.
Starting with the dinner shared with his teammates: an informal moment, away from the cameras, that served to break the ice and transform a world football monument into a dining companion, while on the bus to the stadium the younger players kept turning to stare at him in almost disbelief.
The final spark ignited on Saturday morning, during the final training session. A technical feat stolen from the eyes of the few in attendance left even those who have been involved in top-level football speechless.
"Even yesterday, when I saw him control the ball, I thought I'd have to live ten lifetimes to make a stop like him," confessed coach Andrea Mandorlini at the end of the match, still in awe.
"You notice it already in the warm-up: others pass the ball to you with their feet, but with his foot there's no flat foot, only the outside. You realise he's always thought about the game differently from the rest of us. That remains the mindset of a champion: in so many small moments, he does things that only he sees."
When the teams entered the field, the thermometer read eight degrees: a temperature far from the mild climate of the buen retiro in Miami, to which the forty-six-year-old from Porto Alegre is accustomed. To protect himself from the Romagna cold, Ronaldinho donned a pair of dark gloves over his white and gold commemorative jersey.
Meanwhile, in the stands, another mosaic unfolded, made up of different generations and latitudes. Mayor Barattoni chose to spend the afternoon in the stands, mingling with the fans as is his custom.
Not far away, there were fans who had come from as far away as Turkey and Canada, alongside a family who left Rome at five in the morning, after a 350-kilometre drive.
The one who pushed them there was their son, a symbol of a generation of young people who never saw Ronaldinho play live during his golden years, but who know every one of his feints, his elastic and every move by heart.
And every smile thanks to YouTube videos. It's the power of the internet, capable of eternalising any past and transforming parents' nostalgic stories into concrete reality. "Dad, was he strong?" a little girl asked, shaking her father's hand outside the gates. "Yes, he was strong. Actually, he is strong," he corrected himself.
Tactically, Mandorlini chose to start him from the start behind centre forward Rabbi. Ravenna's start was tense, almost hampered by the emotion of the event, against a compact but loyal Forlì.
Then Dinho began to warm up: twenty-five touches, three corners taken, a few generous slide tackles, and even a couple of protests with the referee that stirred the entire locker room. "We saw a Ballon d'Or winner and world champion slide and tackle," his teammate Giulio Donati emphasised post-match.
In the 35th minute, it was the Brazilian's move that sparked the derby opener, concluded by Donati's powerful and precise right-footed strike from outside the area. It was a crucial goal, a mirror image of the one he scored years ago in the Champions League with Bayer Leverkusen against Zenit, which closed a sixteen-year cycle for the Ravenna defender.
On August 29, 2010, at San Siro, Donati made his Serie A debut for Lecce against AC Milan, marking none other than Ronaldinho; this time, wearing the same jersey, he even came close to doubling the lead from a corner by the number 10.
"That's the beauty of football, the reason we play," Donati smiles. "Obviously, I shouldn't have even jumped - I never do - but we made eye contact, and the great champion puts it right there. Then the 'little champion' missed the goal! We live on emotion: we'll never play with a phenomenon like that again, and it was wonderful."
The curtain fell on Ronaldinho's performance at the end of the first half. Mandorlini had announced a handover around the half-hour mark, but chose to keep him on the pitch until the 45th minute, briefly holding off Gambale's introduction to give him the perfect display under the Curva during half-time.
"We waited for the perfect moment so the fans could pay him the proper tribute," explained the coach. "Beyond the derby victory, which was crucial for us, I believe he should be the undisputed star of the day. The greatest achievement is having seen this player, perhaps for the last time, in a competitive match. We can only thank the owners for thinking of and creating something like this."
His 300th career goal didn't arrive, stopping at 299, but upon leaving the pitch, Ronaldinho expressed his happiness to Sky. "It's true. It all went by too quickly. Football is like that, it's always been like that for me," the Brazilian declared, leaving the door wide open for a possible return to the pitch. "I don't know, now, if the president calls me, I'll come back. It's always a pleasure to play, I told him: when he needs me, I'm there."
An assist quickly collected by Mandorlini: "We're here. We're ready, we've proven it, and we're happy, truly proud to have been the architects of this match he played. So, if he wants to play another one, that's fine."
The evening at the Benelli, however, is much more than a single nostalgic moment: it is the manifesto of a city that wants to look far ahead. Ignazio Cipriani has never hidden his ambition to lead Ravenna to Serie A and, one day, even the Champions League. A dizzying achievement for a club whose highest point in its history was eighth place in Serie B in the 1996-97 season, but it clearly illustrates the scale of the dreams ignited around the Giallorossi club.
It's the same international horizon the city administration is working towards, as Mayor Barattoni reiterates as the stadium slowly empties into the Romagna night. "We're working on multiple fronts to internationalize Ravenna," explains the mayor. "Just think of the 400,000 cruise passengers who departed from our port last year, 97.5 percent of whom were foreigners from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
"We know there are markets where our city's name is highly valued: if we can further promote it through sports, we'll be happy to do so."
For one night, meanwhile, the brightest piece of the Ravenna mosaic bore Ronaldinho's infectious smile. A flash of pure beauty that united the naves of San Vitale and the screens of Times Square, the kids who grew up on YouTube and a city that has decided to no longer set limits.
