The Goths were the ruling class in Italy between 493 (beginning of Theodoric the Great's reign) and 553 (end of the Gothic War, beginning of Byzantine rule). Theodoric pursued a policy of separation and equality between the Roman and Gothic cultures. One could argue that forbidding the Romans to carry arms, a measure to keep the peace since the Goths were a minority in Italy, can be considered discrimination. However the sources suggest that the Romans accepted Theodoric's rule favourably, until just before his death in 526 when growing hostility towards Arians pushed him to extreme reactions and all-out persecution of the Nicene Christians.

Actually, for most of his reign, Theodoric applied religious tolerance towards all (a famous letter to the Jews of Genoa, Variae II 27, says: "We cannot impose a religion : nobody can be forced to believe against his will"), respected the authority of the Senate of Rome, the Roman laws and the Eastern Emperor, and reserved all administrative roles to the Romans, while the Goths kept for themselves the armed defense of the land. Also, in the attempt of preserving the Gothic culture, Theodoric forbid intermarriage and discouraged Goths from getting an education. Reality is always different from theory, however: funerary inscriptions tell us of mixed marriages, and Gothic culture flourished for that brief shining moment in Ravenna, at least in the upper classes, producing among other things the Codex Argenteus and a thriving geography center.

The Goths also had their own territory. Besides being assigned one third of the Roman estates, they had their own places of aggregation: we have records of old place names in Ravenna such as "ad balnea Gothorum" ("by the Gothic baths"). Mostly, Gothic architecture in Ravenna concerns places of worship, since the Arian Goths needed their own churches. The main extant Gothic holy buildings are:

- Sant'Apollinare Nuovo.
- Church of the Holy Spirit
- Arian Baptistery.
- "Palace of Theodoric"
- Mausoleum of Theodoric.

Text: Ælfwine Scylding. Background image: Ælfwine Scylding. Other background images: Mix 'n' Match