RAVENNA, a town of the Papal States, capital of a delegation of the same name, on the left bank of the Montone, 43 miles E. by S. of Bologna. It stood originally on the coast; but as early as the fifth century the alluvial deposits brought down by the Po had begun to encroach upon the sea, from which it is now about 4 miles distant. This space is now occupied by a portion of that celebrated pine forest, perhaps the most ancient in Italy, which covers the flat sandy ground along the Adriatic for about 25 miles. It furnished timber for the Roman fleets, and afterwards for