The origins of Ravenna, located in the…

The origins of Ravenna, located in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and now connected to the Adriatic Sea, five miles (eight kilometers) to the east, by Cana, are uncertain.

The first settlement is variously attributed to the Tyrrhenians, the Thessalians, or the Umbrians, but by 1400, northern Italic tribes probably occupy the site, which consists of houses built on piles on a series of small islands in a marshy lagoon—a situation similar to Venice several centuries later.