Ravenna, ITALY - Pinewoods:  Ravenna  is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its collapse in 476, after which it served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom and then the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna.  The HISTORICAL PINE FORESTS of San Vitale and Classe have very ancient origins. It is believed that these forests were already present around the 5th century AD.  The current 2,000 ha of extension (1100 of them located north of Ravenna, about 900 south of Ravenna) are what remains of the 18th-century large forest that stretched for 7,000 ha and that around 1000 AD was managed by four monastic communities – the abbeys of San Vitale, Santa Maria in Porto, Sant’Apollinare in Classe and San Giovanni Evangelista.  Today, all these areas are managed by the Municipality of Ravenna in collaboration with the authority for the management of parks and biodiversity of the Po Delta, as they are part of the large Po Delta Regional Park.  But the pine forests of Ravenna are not all comparable to each other. There are also coastal pine forests (Casalborsetti, Staggioni, Piomboni, Raspona, Ramazzotti, Savio and, in the Municipality of Cervia, Pinarella) that belong to the state property and are protected as a state natural reserve.  The most ancient nucleus of these ones, the Staggioni pine forest in Porto Corsini, dates back to 1882. The following works of reforestation were carried out thanks to the Rava law of 1905, which also made them inalienable.  This Divided Back Era (1907-15) postcard is in good condition.  E. Lavagua & Sons. Revenna.