They were the gift of a certain Graziadeo, a notary who in 1246 provided the cost of the work, which was carried out it would seem by Maso da Faenza (1314), Rastello da Forll (1350-60), Giovanni da Ravenna (1368-96), and other painters of the Romagnuol school.[1] These works, which are among the loveliest we have of the school, may be noted as follows:  in the nave to the left we see the Madonna and Child with four saints; here, too, is S. Julian.  Upon the triumphal arch we see in the midst the Saviour and on the one side Antichrist and the martyrdom of the saints, on the other the defeat and end of Antichrist who is beheaded by angels.  Beneath are scenes of Paradise and Hell.  On the roof of the choir we see the Evangelists with their symbols and the Doctors of the Church.  Upon the right the Death, Assumption, and Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, together with the Massacre of the Innocents and the Last Supper and perhaps S. Francis and S. Clare.  Upon the left we have the Birth and Presentation of the Blessed Virgin in the Temple.  The last two figures upon the right here are said to be portraits of Giotto and Guido da Polenta by those who attribute these works to the Florentine master.  In the chapel on the left we see pope John I. before Theodoric, pope John in prison, and in the lunette the martyrdom of a saint.  Close by are other frescoes repainted of S. Apollinaris and S. Antony Abbot.  In the chapel on the right we see perhaps S. John baptising a king, S. John preaching, and Blessed Pietro Il Peccatore healing the blind and sick.  Here too would appear to be scenes from the life of S. Matthew, but unhappily the subjects are all of them obscure and difficult to interpret.  At the end of the apse we see the three Maries at the Sepulchre and the Incredulity of S. Thomas.

[Footnote 1:  Cf.  Dr. Ricci, Guida di Ravenna (Bologna, fourth edition), and see Anselmi, Memorie del Pittore Trecentista Petrus da Rimini in La Romagna (1906), vol.  III. fasc.  Settembre.]

Of these majestic but spoilt works undoubtedly the noblest in design is that of the Death of the Blessed Virgin.  The Last Supper is also exceedingly beautiful, and the Incredulity of S. Thomas is a splendid piece of work.  But in the course of ages these latter works especially have suffered grievously, as of course has the whole church.

Built in the marsh it has sunk so deeply into it that its pillars are covered half way up, and the church seems always about to be wholly engulfed.  It was called S. Maria in Porto because it was originally built near to the famous Port that Augustus Casar had established and which for so long was the headquarters of the eastern fleet.  In the sixteenth century when the Canons Regular of the Lateran, who then served it, were compelled to abandon it, they built within the city of Ravenna another church which they named after that they had left, S. Maria in Porto.  Thereafter the old church without the walls was known as S. Maria in Porto fuori.