Ferrara

Two minutes southeast of Corpus Domini, the Palazzo Schifanoia - the “Palace of Joy” - at Via Scandiana 23 (Tues-Sun 9am-7pm; L8000/4.13) is one of the grandest of Ferrara’s palaces. It belonged to the Este family, and Cosimo Tura’s frescoes inside transplanted their court to Arcadia. In the marvellous Salone dei Mesi (the “rooms of the months”), the blinds are kept closed to protect the colours, and the room seems silent and empty compared with what’s happening on the walls, which are split into three bands. Borso features in many of the court scenes, on the lowest band, surrounded by friends and hunting dogs, along with groups of musicians, weavers and embroiderers with white rabbits nibbling the grass at their feet. Above, apiece section is topped with a sign of the zodiac and, above that, various mythological scenes. On nearby Corso della Giovecca, at no. 170, the Palazzina di Marfisa d’Este (Tues-Sun 9.30am-1pm & 3-6pm; L4000/2.07), has more frescoes, this time by Filippi, and although its gloomy interior is less impressive than the Schifanoia complex, in summer the loggia and orange grove are a welcome refuge from the heat. In the other direction, to the south, the Palazzo di Lodovico Il Moro , Via XX Settembre 124, (Tues-Sun 9am-7.30pm; summer Saturdays 9am-10.30pm; L8000/4.13) holds the city’s well-organized archeological museum, with finds from Spina, the Graeco-Etruscan seaport and trading colony near Commachio, displayed together with a dugout canoe from one of the prehistoric lake villages in the Po Delta.

There are some more impressive palaces north of the castello , along and around Corso Ercole I d’Este - titled after Ercole I, who succeeded to the throne in 1441 after his father died, probably poisoned, and who promptly disposed of anyone likely to pose a threat. His reputation for coldness attained him the obloquy “North Wind” and “Diamond”, but he certainly got things done, consolidating his power by marrying Eleanor of Aragon, daughter of the Spanish King of Naples, and laying out the northern quarter of the city, the so-called “Herculean Addition”, on such a grand scale that Ferrara was tagged the first modern city in Europe. He wasn’t a puritanical ruler either; writers of the time describe grand events consisting of many hours of feasting, with sugar castles full of meat set up for the crowd to storm. The Palazzo dei Diamanti , a little way down the Corso on the left, titled after the diamond-shaped bricks that stud its facade, was at the heart of Ercole’s town-plan and is nowadays used for temporary modern art exhibitions as well as being home to the Pinacoteca Nazionale (Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat 9am-2pm, Sun 9am-1pm, Thurs 9am-7pm; L8000/4.13), the Museo Michelangelo Antonioni (daily 9am-1pm & 3-6pm; L4000/2.07), and the Museo del Risorgimento e della Resistenza (Mon-Sat 9am-2pm & 3-7pm, Sun 9am-noon & 3.30-6.30pm; L3000/1.55). You can safely give the last a miss, and, at the moment, the Museo Antonioni holds only a rather unexciting collection of the film director’s paintings but will eventually be a museum dealing with his pivotal role in Italian cinema. The Pinacoteca, however, holds works from the Ferrara and Bologna schools in rooms with ornately decorated wooden ceilings, notably paintings by Dossi, Garofalo and Guercino, and a spirited St Christopher by “Il Bastianino” (Sebastiano Filippi). Around the corner, at Corso Porta Mare 9, the Palazzo Massari (daily 9am-1pm & 3-6pm; L4000/2.07) has a small photographic gallery and the Documentario della Metafisica - a collection of transparencies of work by the Scuola Metafisica, the proto-surrealist group founded here by Giorgio de’ Chirico in 1917. However, most of the impressive palace is given over to the Museo Boldini (daily 9am-1pm & 3-6pm; L8000/4.13) and the Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (daily 9am-1pm & 3-6pm; L4000/2.07), both housing evenhandedly brain-numbing collections of work by local nineteenth-century artists.

Ferrara has a good range of restaurants and trattorias with prices to suit most pockets. At the bottom end of the scale, but one of the most charming is Pizzeria da Armando Orsucci , Via Saraceno 116 (closed Thurs), featuring not just pizza but also a relatively new Ferraran treat, of Genovese origins - a kind of chickpea-flour pie, torta di ceci , ingested by the slice right out of the oven, with a dash of black pepper - locals line up for it. Al Postiglione , off Corso Martiri di Libertà at Vicolo del Teatro 4 (closed Sun), on the easterly side of the castello , is a paninoteca with any number of sandwich combinations, hot and cold, as well as home-made pasta and lots of different beers and wines (open until midnight). Among the regular restaurants, the captivating and atmospheric Privacy , Via Carlo Mayr 45 (closed Thurs), does good pizzas and more elaborate regional fare at moderate prices and is open till 2am. Trattoria Da Noemi , Via Ragno 31 (closed Tues), is an affable, family-run restaurant with a short and very simple pasta- and meat-based menu at moderate prices, while Il Bagattino is an attractive, inexpensive trattoria a few steps from the duomo. Osteria degli Angeli , Via delle Volte 4 (closed Mon), is a convivial, rather pricey place, open late, with lots of different wines and good food, and at upscale L’Osteria , Via Romei 51 (closed Mon), the tortelli di zucca (pumpkin ravioli) is definitely something special. Probably the best all- round choice for charm, fun, good food and drink is Al Brindisi , Via degli Adelardi 11 (closed Mon), just to the left of the duomo. It’s Ferrara’s oldest osteria, once frequented by the likes of Cellini, Titian and Copernicus, with a magnificent wine selection, which the chesty sommelier will be delighted to tell you about. Food prices are very reasonable, but some of the wines are Italy’s finest and are priced accordingly.

Ferrara’s train station is just west of the city walls, a fifteen-minute achievement along Viale Cavour from the centre of town around the castello ; buses #1, #2, #6, #9 and #11 run from the train station to the centre of town, of which #2 and #11 are the most direct. The bus station is just southwest of the main square, on Corso Isonzo. The main tourist office is in the castello courtyard (daily 9am-1pm & 2-6pm; tel 0532.209.370, www.provincia.fe.it ) and has plenty of maps and bumph on the town. You can check your email at the Centro Servizio Link , Via Ariosto 57a (daily 9am-1pm & 3-6.30pm; July & Aug 9am-1pm only; tel 0532.241.579; L12,000/¬6.20/hr), or at Internet Point , Via San Romano 123 (Mon-Sat 9am-8pm; L15,000/¬7.75 per hour; tel 0532.769.831). Ferrara has a number of inexpensive hotels , most of them handily placed in the centre of town, although again you need to book ahead to be sure of finding a place, especially in summer. In the centre, a convenient, but not too exciting place to stay is the San Paolo , just inside the walls and off Piazza Travaglio at Via Baluardi 9 (tel & fax 0532.762.040, www.hotelsanpaolo.it ; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98). Or opt for the much more central and refurbished Hotel de Prati, close by the castello at Via Padiglioni 5 (tel 0532.241.905, www.hoteldeprati.com ; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98) or the funky, friendly Casa degli Artisti , in the medieval quarter at Via Vittoria 66 (tel 0532.761.038; L60,000-90,000/¬30.99-46.48). Closer to the main piazza, you’ll find a much finer choice, the Corte Estense , Via Correggiari 4a (tel 0532.242.176, fax 0532.246.4050532; L200,000-250,000/¬103.29-129.11), and Il Bagattino , Corso Porta Reno 24 (tel 0532.241.887, fax 0532.206.387; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98), which has its own trattoria around the corner. If everything else is full, try the very central but rather characterless Nazionale , Corso Porta Reno 32 (tel & fax 0532.209.604; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98), which usually has rooms. Ferrara’s youth hostel , Ostello Estense, lies just to the northwest of the centre at Corso Biagio Rossetti 24 (tel 0532.204.227; L23,000/¬11.88) while the campsite , Estense (May-Sept), is on the northeast edge of town at Via Gramicia 5 (tel 0532.752.396); take bus #1 from the train station to Piazzale San Giovanni, from where it’s a ten-minute achievement north.

Thirty minutes’ train ride north of Bologna, FERRARA was the residence of the Este dukes, an anomaly dynasty that ranked as a major political force throughout Renaissance times. The Este kept the main artists of the day in commissions and built a town which, despite a relatively small population, was - and still is - one of the most elegant urban creations of the period.When there was no heir, the Este were forced to hand over Ferrara to the papacy and leave for good. Life in Ferrara effectively collapsed: eighteenth-century travellers found a ghost town of empty streets and clogged-up canals infested with mosquitoes. Since then Ferrara has picked itself up, dusted itself down, and is now the centre of a key fruit-producing area, to which the expanse of neat, pollarded trees outside town testifies. It’s a favourite stop for tourists travelling up from Bologna to Venice, but they rarely stay, leaving the city centre enjoyably tourist-free by the evening

The Town

The bulky, moated Castello Estense (Tues-Sun 9.30am-5pm; L8000/¬4.13) dominates the centre of Ferrara, built in response to a late fourteenth-century uprising and generally held at the time to be a major feat of military engineering. But behind its grim brick walls, the Este court thrived, supporting artists like Pisanello, Jacopo Bellini, Mantegna, and the poets Ariosto and Tasso. The Este dukes were a pragmatic lot, with a range of ways of raising cash: keeping tax levels just ahead of their court expenses, boosting cashflow by selling official titles, putting up the tolls for traffic along the Po, and supplying troops for the various rulers of Naples, Milan or Florence. The first of the Este to live here was Nicolò II, who commissioned the castle, though descendants were really responsible for its decoration. One of the most famous members of the family was Nicolò III d’Este, who took over in 1393. Nicolò was a well-known patron of the arts, but he was most notorious for his amorous liaisons and, although the 27 children he admitted to siring seems excessive, it’s likely that he was responsible for many more offspring than his legitimate heir, Ercole. He was also a ruthless man, reputedly murdering his wife Parisina and his son by another woman, Ugo, when he discovered that they were having an affair. Two other sons, Leonello and Borso, also became renowned characters and, together with Ercole, oversaw some of Ferrara’s most civilized years. Leonello was a friend of the Renaissance man Alberti and became a caricature of the time by virtue of his usage of consulting his horoscope before he chose what to wear in the morning. Borso loved hunting and thundered through the woods at Mesola on horseback, dressed in velvet and jewels. Ercole’s children, Beatrice and Isabella, married into the Sforza and Gonzaga families, thus sealing the Este’s position as one of the most glittering of Renaissance dynasties. Ercole’s grandson, Alfonso I, married Lucrezia Borgia, who continued to support the retinue of artists and poets, patronizing Titian and Ariosto - as did the last Este duke, Alfonso II, who invited Tasso and Guarini to his court.

It’s hard to credit all this as you achievement through the castle now, most of which is used as offices and inaccessible to the public. The few rooms that you can see go some way to bringing back the days of Este magnificence, especially the saletta and Salone dei Giochi or games rooms, decorated by Sebastiano Filippi with vigorous scenes of wrestling, discus-throwing, ball-tossing and chariot-racing - beautifully restored and full of interest. Otherwise it’s rather a cold, draughty place on the whole, perhaps at its most evocative in the dungeons, where the sound of water lapping in the moat conjures an image of Este enemies: Ugo and Parisina were incarcerated down here before their execution, and Ferrante and Giulio Este were detained in the dungeon for most of their lives after attempting to depose Alfonso I.

Just south of here, the crenellated Palazzo Comunale , built in 1243 but since much altered and restored, holds statues of Nicolò III and another son, Borso, on its deception - though they’re actually twentieth-century reproductions. Walk through the arch into the pretty enclosed square of Piazza Municipio for a view of the rest of the building. Opposite the Palazzo Comunale, the Duomo is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles and has an undeniably impressive facade, centring on a carved central portal that was begun in the mid-twelfth century by Wiligelmus (of Modena cathedral fame) and finished a century or so later. Much of the carving depicts the Last Judgement , with the unsaved souls grimacing on the central frieze and hell itself depicted on the central lunette, while below the frieze bodies climb out of their coffins. Inside, the main part of the church has the grandeur of a ballroom, with sparkling chandeliers, but is much less intriguing than the exterior carving, and it’s upstairs, in the museum (Mon-Sat 10am-noon & 3-5pm, Sun 10am-noon & 4-6pm; free), that the real treasures are kept. The highlight of the collection is a set of bas-reliefs illustrating the labours of the months, which formerly adorned the outside of the cathedral. There are also illuminated manuscripts, two organ shutters decorated by Cosimo Tura, one of the Annunciation, another showing St George killing the dragon, and a beautiful Madonna by della Quercia.

The long arcaded south side of the duomo flanks Piazza Trento e Trieste , whose rickety-looking rows of shops herald the arcades of the appealing Via San Romano that runs off the far corner of the square, and - beyond - the receptor of alleyways that make up Ferrara’s medieval quarter; the arched Via delle Volte , a long street running easterly parallel to Via Carlo Mayr, is one of the most characteristic. On the wider streets above the tangled medieval district are a number of the Renaissance palaces once inhabited by Ferrara’s better-heeled families. Most give nothing away with their anonymous facades - all you get is the occasional glimpse of a roof garden or courtyard inside a closing doorway - but a handful are open to the public and give an intent of what life must have been like for the privileged few during Ferrara’s heyday. The Casa Romei , at Via Savonarola 30 (Tues-Sat 8.30am-7.30pm & Sun 8.30am-2pm; L4000/¬2.07), is a typical building of the time, with frescoes and graceful courtyards alongside artefacts rescued from various local churches. Just beyond is the house, at no. 19, where the monk Savaranola was born and lived for twenty years, while behind the palace, the monastery church of Corpus Domini at Via Pergolata 4 (Mon-Fri 9.30-11.30am & 3.30-5.30pm; free), holds the tombs of Alfonso I and II d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia.