Renaissance Ferrara and the Dukes d'Este

The city of Ferrara is very close to my native Rovigo and a bit special to me. Not many tourists stop here on their typical route from Venice to Florence and Rome. Yet Ferrara is a place of great beauty and charm. In its centre you will see a powerful looking castle and almost opposite the cathedral of St. George with a most wonderful facade.

To the north of the city then are medieval and quaint narrow streets, like Via delle Volte, i.e. Street of the Vaults, where the vaults or archways are beautifully wonky. This part of the city dates back to the 13th and 14th century and it contains the Jewish ghetto. Less than half a mile though and to the south of the cathedral you will see grander Renaissance piazzas and avenues. In fact this is exactly the key to Ferrara - its rulers in the 15th century decided to widen the city, add broad and straight avenues with symmetrical piazzas and new surrounding walls BUT didn't demolish the older and medieval part of the city, unlike elsewhere in Europe.

Ferrara therefore took on a whole new look. The new part is called the Erculean Addition as it was duke Ercole I d'Este in 1492 who designed and commissioned it. It is indeed a really early example of Renaissance urban planning, and a very successful one.

What was Ercole's motivation? Most definitely to add to the prestige of his family and show to other ruling families that the House of Este was both powerful and cultured. He needed to do this because, in reality, the Este duchy wasn't that large. A few miles from the city to the north was the river Po which for centuries marked the border between the Estes and the Republic of Venice, which was an uncomfortably aggressive neighbour. In fact, many battles took place between Ferrara and Venice right there on the banks of the Po.

The dukes of Este's reputation as patrons of the art also added to their prestige. As well as their castle, which was the seat of their power, the Estes owned nineteen more palaces and villas, which they called 'Delizie', i.e. delights.

Ferrara, Duomo di San Giorgio

One of the most famous Este duchesses was Lucrezia Borgia, who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and a pawn in her father's political designs. He arranged for Lucrezia to marry Alfonso d'Este in 1502 when she was 22 years old and already had two marriages behind her. Her father had managed to annul Lucrezia's first union and probably had her second husband killed in order to seal a new alliance with the Este family by marrying her to Alfonso d'Este.

Although there have always been so many tales about Lucrezia's wickedness, her poisoning of her many lovers and her incestuous relationship with both her father and brother, documents tell a different story. She was involved in the management of the duchy and seems to have been very capable. She was also a cultured lady who liked to surround herself with poets and artists. Lucrezia gave her third husband eight children and sadly died aged 39 after the birth of her last child.

On the upper floor of the Este castle there is a beautiful terrace which was built during the period when Lucrezia was the duchess. Then as now the terrace is filled with orange trees. The rooms that opens onto this terrace are thought to have been Lucrezia's rooms. The frescoes here are very feminine and it is easy to imagine Lucrezia in this setting surrounded by the fragrance of the orange blossoms.

Lucrezia Borgia, Dosso Dossi, 1510

Casa Romei and Polissena d’Este

This is a palace which is very representative of Ferrara since it unites both medieval and Renaissance architecture. It was built in the middle of the 15th century for Giovanni Romei who was a rich merchant and a close friend of the Estes. In fact, Casa Romei was restructured and extended in 1478 on the occasion of Giovanni's wedding to Polissena d'Este. Polissena at the time was in her teens and Giovanni well into his sixties. We have records of a great party during which the guests 'ate dinner with great magnificence' and danced with masks until 5 o'clock in the morning. There are wonderful frescoes both on the outside and the inside of the house showing us what clothes and ornaments Polissena and Giovanni would have worn.

No children came from their union and when Giovanni died the Estes were planning to marry Polissena off to someone else, but Polissena eloped with a man (finally) of her choice. Apparently, this caused great scandal and the dukes were very angry but ..... how wonderful to know of a woman who rebelled against an arranged marriage and succeeded in marrying the man of her choice.

Casa Romei, Ferrara

There are many other palaces in Ferrara with similar fascinating stories such Marfisa's Palace, Palazzo Schifanoia and Palazzo dei Diamanti, i.e. the Palace of Diamonds. The name of Palazzo dei Diamanti refers to the outside decoration of the palace with 8,500 blocks of marble, all carved in the shape of diamonds. Such carvings reflect light and give the palace a luminous effect. Of course there is also the legend that underneath one of the carved diamonds is a real diamond..... Interestingly, duke Ercole who commissioned this palace was given the nickname 'diamante', diamond. Given his success in the redesign of Ferrara I think we can say he fully deserved such a title.

The last image below is a detail of a fresco from Palazzo Schifanoia. Schifanoia means 'avoiding boredom', so this was a palace where the Estes used to retire to and were entertained in their leisure time. The fresco belongs to the cycle of the months and represents new life and loves in the month of April.

Hope you all have a good February. Spring is just around the corner...

Ferrara, Jewish Ghetto