In 1385 a dangerous revolt convinced Niccolò II d'Este of the need to erect mighty defences for himself and his family; thus the Castello di San Michele was built, a fortress erected against the people. Its imposing proportions, its moat, its drawbridges and its towers date back to that remote period. An elevated covered passageway, which still exists, joined the military building to the marquises' Palace (today Palazzo Municipale).
Centuries went by and the risk of riots died down. And so the castle became the magnificent residence of the court and was embellished with roof terraces at the top of the towers, marble balconies, the Renaissance style courtyard (at the time fully frescoed) and sumptuous apartments.
The three rooms on the piano nobile frescoed by Alfonso II, but already used as state rooms under Ercole II, known as the Sala dell'Aurora (Dawn Room), Saletta dei Giochi (Small Games Room) and Salone dei Giochi (Large Games Room), present a complex iconography linked by a single underlying theme.
In the Dawn Room, the theme represented is the passing of time, personified by old Chronos at the centre of the ceiling and divided into the four parts of the day: dawn, midday, dusk and night. In the Small Games Room, The centre of the ceiling is decorated with the round dance of the Four Seasons and the idea of representing games, gymnastics and martial arts, typical of ancient Rome begins. This theme continues into the Large Games Room where the iconographic project is attributed to the Neapolitan architect and antiquarian Pirro Ligorio who worked for Alfonso II from 1568 onwards. The frescoes were executed by three painters: Ludovico Settevecchi, who came from Modena, Leonardo da Brescia and the famous Ferrarese artist Sebastiano Filippi, known as Bastianino (1532-1602).
The underlying theme is represented by putti who are handling chariots pulled by animals, are involved in various pastimes and games and are riding unlikely marine-land creatures.
Government Room: commissioned by Ercole II d'Este to dispatch government business, it still conserves its gold-painted panelled ceiling, with a representation of the god Pan and other mythological figures.
Devolution Room: the nineteenth century ceiling represents the devolution of Ferrara, i.e. the transfer of power from the Este family to the Pope, which took place in 1598 with Duke Cesare d'Este's departure and the celebrations in honour of Pope Clement VIII, who came to take possession of the city.
Landscapes Room. Geography Room. Blue Room.
Coats of Arms Room: This room presents a double decoration from the papal period. The oldest decoration consists of a long series of shields with the Pope's tiara and St. Peter's keys; one part is taken up with the escutcheons of the Popes the others are empty. Beneath this there was a decoration with the coat of arms of the Apostolic Legates, who had their residence in the castle. The lower part of the wall is taken up with coats of arms and some views of the Ferrara legation dating from the mid-nineteenth century: Ferrara, Comacchio, Cento, Lugo and the Abbazia di Pomposa.
The hanging garden is situated on the piano nobile, next to the elegant Loggia delle Duchesse. Before the 16th-century extensions carried out under Ercole II by the architect Da Carpi, it seems that another garden belonging to Duchess Eleonora d'Aragona, wife of Ercole I, stood here. The original garden was laid out with flowerbeds interspersed with garden paths and contained both annual plants and orange trees, the latter growing in vases so that during winter they could be moved into the Loggia degli Aranci, realised under Alfonso I. The present-day crenellated wall has holes through which the Este family could observe the people in the streets below without being seen. The importance of this garden within the structure of Estense Ferrara can be seen by its central position within the complex system of ducal gardens: a series of green areas, navigable canals, fountains, grottos and artificial hills that embellished the city throughout.
The dungeons are all in the Torre dei Leoni and were used for locking away high-ranking personalities generally accused of political crimes; members of the Este family were also often among those who occupied them.
The first cell we come to is known as "Don Giulio's Dungeon". Don Giulio spent long years of imprisonment in it after the plot he had hatched with his brother Ferrante to kill the other two brothers Duke Alfonso I and Cardinal Ippolito was discovered. The two Este family members were thrown into these dungeons and for Ferrante there was no escape, but, after 53 years, Giulio was released in 1559.
A steep stairway leads to Parisina Malatesta's dungeon with Ugo D'Este's next to it. The two young people, the second wife and one of the many illegitimate children of Marquis Nicolò III were the same age and fell in love with each other. They paid the price for their passion - imprisonment in the dungeons and, a few weeks later, decapitation.

The name of the palace derives from the motto 'schivar la noia' meaning 'avoid tedium' and refers to the building's function as a place for fun and recreation as it was an Estense 'Delizia' (palace for recreation). Building on Schifanoia began at the end of the 1300s in a very green area near the river Po. Nowadays, the palace has the appearance of a long building divided into two wings: the single-storey 14th-century wing to the west (home to the Civic Museum) and to east the two-storey 15th-century wing which makes up Duke Borso's extension of the years 1465-1467. The façade, at one time crowned with crenellations and frescoed with fake polychrome marble, is distinguished by an elegant marble portal designed by Francesco del Cossa.
In the adjacent Hall of the Virtues, a sumptuous gold-painted panelled ceiling can be admired, realised by Domenico di Paris in the 15th century, with decorative motifs of rare beauty, among which are the duke's badges. In the upper band of the walls the seated women represent the cardinal and theological virtues. Note that the virtue that is missing is Justice, the one that the patron Borso considered most important. It was probably represented in a different form from the others (a fresco or a statue) or even, as some maintain, personified in the duke himself when, in this very room, he sat to listen to entreaties and settle legal disputes.
This and the next room, the Sala delle Imprese (Hall of Badges), with its beautiful blue and gold caisson ceiling, conserve other objects belonging to the museum, including illuminated books from the monasteries of San Giorgio and the Certosa.
Museum of Ancient Art: Situated in the 14th-century wing of the Palazzo Schifanoia since 1898, it houses works of a various nature including paintings, manuscripts, small bronzes, objects in ivory and decorated ceramics. Particularly interesting is the small showcase, containing medals, some by Pisanello. Among the personalities represented are many Este family members, from Leonello to Ercole I, from Lucrezia Borgia to Lucrezia de’ Medici. The rebuilt choir stalls from the destroyed church of Sant'Andrea, a fascinating example of wood marquetry by the Canozi da Lendinara are of great value. Also of note is the 15th-century alabaster Polyptych, made in a Nottingham workshop and given to the Este family by the King of England. The seven panels, now without their original frame, still show some of their colour and represent scenes from the Passion.
Leaving the 14th century wing, a short stairway leads to the Hall of the Months, which conserves one of the most important 15th-century cycles of frescoes in Italy. It is the collective work of different Ferrarese painters from the school of Cosmè Tura, among whom were Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de' Roberti. The high walls are divided into 12 sections, one for each month, but today only the months from March to September can be seen (to be read anticlockwise).
Each month is in turn divided into three horizontal bands: in the upper one (the World of gods) are the triumphant chariots of pagan gods, surrounded by mythological or ordinary life scenes. The world of man, upon which are inflicted the divine laws, is painted in the lower part showing the activities of the court and the townsfolk, and in which the figure of the patron, Duke Borso d'Este is portrayed, glorified as a wise and fair governor of his states. The third band is placed between men and gods and shows Western and Egyptian Zodiac signs, evidence of the great importance held by astrological "science" in the Estense court.
Via Scandiana, 23 - 44100 Ferrara - tel. 0532-64178
Opening time: 9 am - 6 pm- Closed on monday

This very special oval piazza set below ground level and also famous for the races of the Palio, is the work of the architect Biagio Rossetti. The town-planning intent was to give the new city (the so-called Addizione Erculea) its own meeting point, which could then become the 'new market square'. But the main marketplace always remained the one along the side of the Cathedral. The piazza, framed by two of Rossetti's palaces with porticoes, was formerly called Piazza Nuova, but is now named after the poet Ludovico Ariosto, whose statue stands at the centre on a column.

Erected in 1594 on a pre-existing Franciscan complex, the church is a masterpiece of the architect Biagio Rossetti. The brick facade is marked by marble and terracotta lesenes and sweeping lateral scrolls. The interior is arranged as a Latin cross with three aisles. There are eight chapels on each side and its pure Renaissance geometrical proportions give an impression of great harmony. In the first chapel on the left is a wonderful fresco by Garofalo The Capture of Christ (1524). Alongside the fresco is a rare example of an altarpiece sculpted in stone (Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane), flanked by frescoed portraits of the donators. In the right aisle, between the sixth and seventh chapel, we can admire a Christ on the Column in terracotta, from the early 15th century, flanked by two men with whips frescoed a century later. In the right transept is the large Baroque mausoleum of Marquis Ghiron Francesco Villa (died 1670); while in the left transept there is a magnificent 5th-century Roman sarcophagus from Ravenna. Behind the main alter is a large triptych Resurrection, Ascension and Depositino (1580-1583), the work of Domenico Mona.

Of ancient origins, it was built near a ford (vado in Italian) that crossed one of the many canals that intersected the area. Its religious importance is tied to the miracle of the Eucharist that occurred on Easter Day 1171; at the moment of consecration blood spouted from the host staining the apsidal vault above the altar. It immediately became a site for pilgrimage and by order of Duke Ercole I d'Este was enlarged from 1495 onwards with important interventions by the architect Biagio Rossetti. The interior of the church has the layout of a basilica, with three aisles divided by columns, an apse and a transept. Worthy of note in the lateral aisles is the Madonna of Constantinople in the fourth bay on the right. The ceiling is decorated with five paintings by Carlo Bononi (1569-1632), in which the artist demonstrates all his mastery of the foreshortened view from below.

The building was reconstructed in its present-day form after the earthquake of 1570 by the architect Alberto Schiatti. The ex-convent with two elegant cloisters still stands alongside it. Inside, there are frescoes and valuable paintings from over the centuries, above all the 16th and 17th, which make this church a museum of late-Renaissance Ferrarese artists. In the left aisle, of particular note is The Descent of the Holy Spirit by Scarsellino in the third chapel, The Resurrection and The Circumcision by Bastianino in the fourth and fifth. Works by the same artists are also to be seen in the opposite aisle: The Birth of St. John the Baptist by Scarsellino in the third chapel, The Annunciation by Bastianino in the fifth. In the right transept, below the organ, we can admire St. Jerome by Girolamo da Carpi. Works realised by Domenico Mona are The Adoration of the Magi, behind the high altar and, to the sides of the presbytery, The Conversion and The Decollation of St. Paul. In the vault of the apse we can admire Elijah's Abduction, by Scarsellino, a fresco that opened a new chapter in Italian Baroque painting.

The cathedral dates from the 12th century and bears witness to all the historical periods of the city. The outstanding façade, divided into three sections, was begun in Romanesque style, still visible in the lower part. Note the St. George and the scenes from the New Testament above the central door, the work of the sculptor Nicholaus (1135). The upper part was built some decades later in a Gothic style and besides the numerous small arches and the splayed mullioned windows presents an extraordinary Last Judgment by an unknown sculptor over the central loggia. The side facing Piazza Trento e Trieste is decorated with two galleries and small columns of various shapes. At ground level is the Loggia of the Merchants, occupied by shops since Medieval times. Half way along the south side what remains of the Porta dei Mesi, demolished in the 18th century can still be seen; some of its sculptures are conserved in the Cathedral Museum. The imposing Renaissance campanile, in pink and white marble, is an unfinished work attributed to Leon Battista Alberti. The brickwork apse, whose sober design is lightly embellished by terracotta arches and marble capitals, is the work of Ferrara’s top architect and town planner, Biagio Rossetti. Along the right side of the Cathedral stretch two rows of galleries, decorated by small columns of various shapes. The lower part is occupied by a continuous portico with shops, known as the Loggia dei Merciai, ("Loggia of the Merchants"), built in the 15th century. This included the Porta dei Mesi (Door of Months), named after the magnificent sculpted panels representing the months and nowadays housed in the Cathedral Museum (Museo del Duomo). The unfinished bell tower was probably designed by Leon Battista Alberti. The semicircular apse with brickwork decorations is the work of Biagio Rossetti. The interior of the cathedral was completely refurbished in the 17th century in a grandiose classical Roman style. Along with the ostentatious pictorial decoration older works can be admired such as the bronze statues of the crucifixion of saints George and Maurilius, by Nicolò Baroncelli and Domenico di Paris (15th cent.) in the right transept; on the altar alongside, the splendid canvas of the Martyrdom of St Lawrence by Guercino (17cent.) is to be seen. The bowl-shaped apse is vaulted with the grandiose Last Judgment by Bastianino (16th cent.). In what is his masterpiece the artist displays great dramatic force, imagination and unconventionality in this work clearly inspired by Michelangelo.

The palace, at the centre of the Addizione Erculea, on the important crossroads known as the Quadrivio degli Angeli, belonged to the duke's brother Sigismondo d'Este. Its name derives from over 8000 pink and white marble ashlars in the form of pyramids (or diamonds) that cover the two façades. The architect Biagio Rossetti rendered it a townplanning masterpiece by placing the most important decoration on the corner: a contrivance destined to highlight the importance of the crossroads and make the building an entirely original work, designed as it was to be viewed in perspective rather than from in front of the façade. Indeed, the corner adorned with splendid sculpted candelabras by Gabriele Frisoni and by a gracious balcony (added a little later) tends to lead the visitor towards the nearby Piazza Ariostea. Inside, the structure develops over three wings, originally on a U-shaped layout, but altered by subsequent conversions. Some rooms on the piano nobile conserve remarkable 16thcentury ceilings. Today, the palace is home to museums: Pinacoteca Nazionale and Galleria d'Arte Moderna.

In 1502 work began on the construction of a large palace on the Via della Ghiara (now Via XX Settembre) for Antonio Costabili, Ferrara’s ambassador at the court of Ludovico il Moro, the Duke of Milan. The work was commissioned to the court architect Biagio Rossetti, who accomplished in it one of his masterpieces. The grandiose building centres around the courtyard of honour, only completed on two sides and adorned with two open galleries in marble. The windows on the first floor were originally opened and bricked up in groups of two, giving a filled and void effect which can still, in part, be appreciated on the façade of the palace in Via Porta d’Amore: where there is a window with five panes in which the central one is bricked up. In the 1930s dismal restoration work opened the panes of all the windows to obtain an arcade in the style of Donato Bramante, to whom the design for the building was then attributed. For the same reason, namely to justify the attribution of the work to the Milanese architect in Ferrara, the legend arose that the palace had been built for the Duke Ludovico il Moro, widower of Beatrice d’Este, and had then remained unfinished when he fell from power and fled from Milan. Today, curtains are used to give the visitor an idea of the former appearance of the courtyard. Other interesting features of the complex are some of the rooms with 16th-century ceilings frescoed by Garofalo and the neo-Renaissance garden. The National Archaeological Museum is also housed within the palace.

The Villa is a splendid example of a 16th-century high-class residence and was once surrounded by magnificent gardens that connected it to other buildings, known as "Casini di San Silvestro". It takes its name from the princess Marfisa d'Este who inherited it from the man who had it built, Francesco d'Este, the son of Duke Alfonso I and Lucrezia Borgia. Marfisa lived in it until her death and refused to leave Ferrara even after her family moved to Modena and the city was devolved to the Papal States. The façade on Corso Giovecca is in brick with large rectangular windows. The large garden behind is now closed off by a loggia painted with a fake bower, used for performances. The interior has magnificent 16th-century ceilings decorated with grotesques by the Filippi workshop, which achieve a high level of refinement and sumptuousness. Among the rooms that can be visited are the Heraldic Room (or Red Hall), the Portraits Loggia with portraits of Francesco d'Este's daughters, Marfisa and Bradamante, Phaeton's Room, the Banqueting Room, the Studiolo, the Great Hall and the Chimney Room, which takes its name from the 16th-century monumental chimneypiece coming from the Lombardi circle. The villa also houses a precious collection of objets d'art and antiques such as sculptures, paintings and pieces of furniture.
Corso Giovecca,170

Begun in 1245, the City Hall was the residence of the Este family until the 16th century. The main entrance is through Volto del Cavallo, opposite the cathedral, and is flanked by two sculptures, copies of the original 15th century ones. To the right, above an arch designed by Leon Battista Alberti, is a statue of Niccolò III d'Este on horseback; to the left, seated on a column, is his son Borso. The present-day facade is a neo-Gothic reconstruction that includes the Torre della Vittoria (Victory Tower), where the bronze monument to Victory, a work of great value by Arrigo Minerbi (1918) is housed. In the courtyard of honour the architect Pietro Benvenuti degli Ordini began construction of the covered monumental staircase at the end of the 15th century. Once through the main door, two large rooms, still with remains of Renaissance decoration, are crossed before reaching a modern room which leads into the Stanzino delle Duchesse (Duchesses' Chamber), which probably belonged to Eleonora and Lucrezia d'Este, the sisters of Duke Alfonso II.
Stanzino delle duchesse: It is one of the city wonders, a small room sumptuously decoration with grotesques, cupids, festoons, caryatids and mermaid, made of wooden panels painted between 1555 and 1560 by the Filippi workshop. The size of the panels is no longer the original one, since they were adapted when the decoration was transferred here from the so called "Camere dorate" (the golden rooms) in the castle.

Set in the heart of the medieval city, the monastery still gives the sense of isolation and tranquillity it did during its early years, when it stood upon an island in the middle of the Po. Founded by the Blessed Beatrice d'Este, daughter of Marquis Azzo VII, the convent was always protected by the Este family, who were never sparing with money for its embellishment. In its period of greatest splendour, the growth of the Benedictine community was such that it occupied a large number of adjacent buildings; nowadays the nuns live in the oldest and most interesting wing of the complex. In the small entrance courtyard, which the small church looks on to, there is a tree commonly known as the "Japanese cherry tree" which every year in April is covered in a pink bloom. Entry into the monastery is through the smallest door under the narthex, which leads straight into the portico of the ancient cloister in which a chapel has been constructed containing the remains of the Blessed Beatrice d'Este. A narrow door leads to the nuns' choir, one of the most charming of settings in Ferrara: the large room, with the choir stalls along its sides, is dominated by a large altarpiece "The Flagellation" by Nicolò Roselli (16th cent.), framed by a grand ancon of the same period, in sculpted gilt wood. On the opposite side three chapels open out, all decorated with precious frescoes.
The chapels: The left chapel is dedicated to the "Stories from Jesus' Childhood" and to the "Life of the Virgin Mary"; these are frescoes of the Giotto school, executed between 1315 and 1320. The one in the centre is the largest of the three and above it is an architrave upon which rests an expressive 15th-century Crucifix. The front wall is decorated by an "Annunciation" by Domenico Panetti (15th cent.). The two side walls have a similar iconography: high up there are coloured 14th-century drapes, lower down images of the Virgin Mary and various saints, some of which date back to the second half of the 15th century. The ceiling with grotesques is noteworthy: a very strange presence of pagan origin in an ecclesiastical setting, bearing witness to the close ties between the monastery and the court, where such decorations were fashionable in the late 1600s. The chapel on the right has the "Passion" as its theme and is the work of two masters of the Giotto school: one from the end of the 13th century painted "Jesus Raised on the Cross" and the other from the middle of the 14th century.

The monastery stands in the old part of the city, at the centre of a maze of narrow streets, in one of medieval Ferrara's smartest areas, just a stone's throw from San Francesco and the palace once owned by the Este family. Founded in 1406, this convent of cloistered Clarissa nuns conserves the heirlooms of St. Catherine Vegri, a damsel of noble origins who abandoned the luxuries of the court to devote herself to the religious life. She was a mystic and a writer and lived here until 1456. The convent owes its fame to the fact that several members of the Este family are buried here. In the nuns' choir lie the remains of Eleonora d'Aragona, Alfonso I, Ercole II, Alfonso II and the famous Lucrezia Borgia who was particularly devoted to this place during her life. The tombs of Eleonora, Alfonso I's daughter, and Lucrezia, ErcoleII's daughter, who both entered convent life are also to be found here. The interior of the public church was richly decorated in the Baroque era and among other works presents a large fresco on the ceiling, The Glory of St. Catherine Vegri, a particularly fine and graceful work by Giuseppe Ghedini (18th-century).

The building of the present-day church, attributed to Biagio Rossetti, began in 1498 and ended in 1551. The façade, which has remained unfinished, is decorated by an 18th-century marble portal. The interior has a single large and airy nave, with six chapels on each side, transept and large presbytery area with an apse. At present (1998) it does not have most of the works of art and religious furnishings, while awaiting the restoration work to end.

Created in 1836, the Picture Gallery was the first public collection of Ferrarese paintings, put together to bring a halt to the dispersion of local artistic patrimony by setting up a modern museum in which to conserve and promote Ferrara's art and culture. In 1958, the Picture Gallery, until then consisting mainly of medium-sized and large works with holy themes, passed under the national trust. In the following years it was enriched by donations and collections: today the museum has more than two hundred holy and profane works that offer the visitor a full view of Ferrarese painting between the 13th and the 17th centuries. The works are arranged in the rooms of the piano nobile, such as the Hall of Honour, decorated with beautiful 16th-century ceilings. The 13th and 14th century: The period of the Middle Ages are represented by numerous artists. These include the Maestro di San Bartolo, with frescoes from the late 1200s, painted in the Byzantine style; Serafino de' Serafini, with the large mural painting of the "Triumph of St. Augustine"; Simone de' Crocifissi and Cristoforo da Bologna. Worthy of mention, although not forming part of the local culture is the magnificent "Saint John the Baptist" by the artist known as the "Maestro di Figline". The 15th century: Cosmé Tura (leader of the movement), Ercole de' Roberti and Francesco del Cossa are the masters of the great 15th-century pictorial school called the "Officina Ferrarese", which realised its greatest masterpieces in the Cycle of the Months in Palazzo Schifanoia. The fascinating and unmistakable Tura, whose images appear to have a metallic sheen, is present with two tondos: "The Judgement San Maurilius" and "The Decollation of San Maurilius". Two works by Ercole de' Roberti are to be admired in the Picture Gallery: a "San Petronius" and a "Madonna with Child". Unfortunately, there are no works by the third master, so widely documented at Schifanoia. The painters who decorated the celebrated Studiolo for Leonello d'Este at the Palazzo di Belfiore also belonged to the Officina Ferrarese: the paintings represent the Muses; the splendid "Erato" attributed to Angelo Maccagnino and "Urania" by an unknown artist can be seen in the Picture Gallery. Other paintings in this series are on display in Milan, London, Berlin and Budapest. The artist of one of the Muses, Michele Pannonio, also has two elegant figures of saints on display. The 16th century: This is the century that is most broadly represented, above all through the works of Garofalo, master of classicism, who was influenced by Raffaello, Giorgione and Titian, but remained intimately tied to the Ferrarese ambience. Several works show the imaginative and sometimes magical vein of the Battista brothers and Dosso Dossi and their unmistakable emphasis on colour. Other Ferrarese painters of the period on show here are Ortolano, Ludovico Mazzolino, and Bastarolo. The fin de siecle was dominated by the Filippi family and above all by Sebastiano, known as Bastianino, a painter in whom clear Michelangiolesque influences gave rise to a very personal style, which, over the years was increasingly open to Venetian influences. Among the non-Ferrarese painters, mention must be made of Agostino and Ludovico Carracci, Niccolò Pisano and Domenico Tintoretto. The 17th and 18th century: The great Guercino, a native of nearby Cento, left numerous works at Ferrara and the Picture Gallery boasts a "Martyrdom of Saint Maurilius" of 1635. The best representative of 17th-century Ferrarese painting was Scarsellino, who executed some intense and elegant paintings, such as "Noli me tangere" or "The Last Supper". But Carlo Bononi, an excellent artist contemporary to the decline of Ferrarese should not be forgotten. Artists from the 18th century include Ghedini, Parolini and dallo Zola from Ferrara, Gandolfi from Bologna and the Frenchman Hubert Robert with his large landscape views. The Modern and Contemporary Art Gallery houses important, prestigious temporary exhibitions organised in collaboration with Ferrara Arte, whose aim is to turn to account the city's the heritage and continue its great historic and artistic tradition. Ferrara Arte's first exhibition, a review of Claude Monet and his friends, opened in 1991-92 and has continued ever since along various currents of research to the acclaim of critics and the public alike.
Palazzo dei Diamanti
C.so Ercole I d'Este,21 - tel. 0532 205844