Everything about Ferrara totally explained
Ferrara is a city in
Emilia-Romagna, northern
Italy, capital city of the
province of Ferrara.
It is situated 50 km north-northeast of
Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the
Po River, located 5 km north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces dating from the
14th century, when it hosted the court of the
house of Este.
Modern times have brought a renewal of industrial activity. Ferrara is on the main rail line from
Bologna to
Padua and
Venice, and has branches to
Ravenna,
Poggio Rusco (for
Suzzara) and
Codigoro.
History
The origin of Ferrara is uncertain; it's unlikely that it occupies the site of the ancient
Forum Alieni, as some suppose. It was probably settled by the inhabitants of the
lagoons at the mouth of the Po; there are two early centers of settlement, one round the cathedral, the other, the
castrum bizantino, being the San Pietro district, on the opposite shore, where the Primaro empties into the Volano channel. Ferrara appears first in a document of the
Lombard king
Aistulf of
754, as a city forming part of the
Exarchate of
Ravenna. Desiderius pledged a Lombard
ducatus ferrariae ("duchy of Ferrara") in 757 to Pope Stephen II. After
984 it was a
fief of
Tedaldo,
count of
Modena and
Canossa, nephew of the emperor
Otto I. It afterwards made itself independent, and in
1101 was taken by siege by the
countess Matilda. At this time it was mainly dominated by several great families, among them the
Adelardi (or Aleardi).
In
1146,
Guglielmo II Adelardi, the last of the Adelardi, died, and his property passed, as the
dowry of his niece
the Marchesella, to
Obizzo I d'Este. There was considerable hostility between the newly entered family and the
Salinguerra, but after considerable struggles
Azzo VII Novello was nominated perpetual
podestà in
1242; in
1259 he took
Ezzelino of
Verona prisoner in battle. His grandson,
Obizzo II (
1264–
1293), succeeded him, and he was made perpetual lord of the city by the population. The house of Este was from henceforth settled in Ferrara. In
1289 he was also chosen as lord of
Modena, one year later he was made lord of
Reggio.
Niccolò III (
1393–
1441) received several
popes with great magnificence, especially
Eugene IV, who held a council here in
1438. His son
Borso received the title of
duke for the imperial fiefs of Modena and Reggio from emperor
Frederick III in
1452 (in which year
Girolamo Savonarola was born here), and in
1471 was made
duke of Ferrara by
Pope Paul II.
Ercole I (
1471–
1505) carried on a war with
Venice and increased the magnificence of the city.
During the reign of Ercole I, one of the most significant patrons of the arts in late
15th and early
16th century Italy after the
Medici, Ferrara grew into a cultural center, renowned especially for music. Composers came to Ferrara from many parts of Europe, especially
France and
Flanders;
Josquin Des Prez worked for Duke Ercole for a time (producing the
Missa Hercules dux Ferrariæ, which he wrote for him);
Jacob Obrecht came to Ferrara twice (and died during an outbreak of
plague there in
1505); and
Antoine Brumel served as principal musician from
1505.
Alfonso I, son of Ercole, was also an important patron; his preference for instrumental music resulted in Ferrara becoming an important center of composition for the
lute.
Alfonso married the notorious
Lucrezia Borgia, and continued the war with Venice with success. In
1509 he was
excommunicated by
Pope Julius II, and he overcame the pontifical army in
1512 defending
Ravenna.
Gaston de Foix fell in the battle, in which he was supporting Alfonso. With the succeeding popes he was able to make peace. He was the patron of
Ariosto from
1518 onwards. His son
Ercole II married
Renée of France, daughter of
Louis XII of France; he too embellished Ferrara during his reign (
1534–
1559).
His son
Alfonso II married Lucrezia, daughter of grand-duke
Cosimo I of Tuscany, then Barbara, sister of the emperor
Maximilian II and finally
Margherita Gonzaga, daughter of the
duke of Mantua. He raised the glory of Ferrara to its highest point, and was the patron of
Tasso,
Guarini, and
Cremonini -- favouring, as the princes of his house had always done, the arts and sciences. He had no legitimate male heir, and in
1597 Ferrara was claimed as a vacant fief by
Pope Clement VIII, as was also
Comacchio.
During the reign of Alfonso II, Ferrara once again developed an impressive musical establishment, rivaled in Italy only by the adjacent city of Venice, and the traditional musical centers such as
Rome,
Florence and
Milan. Composers such as
Luzzasco Luzzaschi,
Lodovico Agostini, and later
Carlo Gesualdo, represented the
avant-garde tendency of the composers there, writing for gifted virtuoso performers, including the famous
concerto di donne — the three virtuoso female singers
Laura Peverara,
Anna Guarini, and
Livia d'Arco.
Vincenzo Galilei praised the work of Luzzaschi, and
Girolamo Frescobaldi studied with him. Visitors came to hear the spectacular productions of the Este musicians, the activities of which mostly ceased in
1598 with the demise of the Este court.
A fortress was constructed by
Pope Paul V on the site of the castle called "
Castel Tedaldo", at the south-west angle of the town. The town remained a part of the
states of the Church, the fortress being occupied by an
Austrian garrison from
1832 until
1859, when it became part of the
kingdom of Italy.
Main sights
The town is still surrounded by more than 9
kilometres of ancient walls, mainly built in the 15th and 16th centuries
The most prominent building is the square
Castello Estense, in the centre of the town, a brick building surrounded by a
moat, with four towers. It was built after
1385 and partly restored in
1554; the pavilions on the top of the towers date from the latter year.
Near it's the hospital of
Santa Anna, where the poet
Torquato Tasso was confined during his attack of insanity (
1579–
1586).
The
Palazzo del Municipio, rebuilt in the
18th century, was the earlier residence of the Este family. Close by it's the cathedral of
San Giorgio, begun in
1135, when the
Romanesque lower part of the main
façade and the side façades were completed. According to a now lost inscription the church was built by
Guglielmo I degli Adelardi (d.
1146), who is buried in it. The sculpture of the main portal is the signed work of the "artifex" Nicholaus, mentioned in the lost inscription as the architect for the church. The upper part of the main façade, with arcades of pointed arches, dates from the
13th century and the portal has recumbent lions and elaborate sculptures above. The interior was restored in the
baroque style in
1712. The
campanile, in the
Renaissance style, dates from
1451–
1493, but the last storey was added at the end of the
16th century.
A little way off is the
university, which has faculties of
law,
architecture,
pharmacy,
medicine and
natural science; the
library has valuable
manuscripts, including part of that of the
Orlando furioso and letters by
Tasso. Its famous graduates include
Nicolaus Copernicus (
1503) and
Paracelsus. The university's
botanical garden is the
Orto Botanico dell'Università di Ferrara.
Ferrara has many early Renaissance palaces, often retaining
terracotta decorations; few towns of Italy as small have so many, though most are comparatively small in size. Among them may be noted those in the north quarter (especially the four at the intersection of its two main streets), which was added by Ercole I in
1492–
1505, from the plans of
Biagio Rossetti, and hence called the
Addizione Erculea.
Among the finest palaces is
Palazzo dei Diamanti, so named for the
diamond points into which the facade's stone blocks are cut. It houses the National Picture Gallery, with a large collection of the school of Ferrara, which first rose to prominence in the latter half of the
15th century, with
Cosimo Tura,
Francesco Cossa and
Ercole dei Roberti. Noted masters of the 16th century
School of Ferrara (Painting) include
Lorenzo Costa and
Dosso Dossi, the most eminent of all,
Girolamo da Carpi and
Benvenuto Tisio (il Garofalo).
The
Archivio Storico Comunale contains a relevant amount of historical documents, starting from 15th century. The
Archivio Storico Diocesano is more ancient, mentioned in documents in
955, and contains precious documents collected across the centuries by the clergy. Many libraries also enrich this town, which possesses a cultural heritage of extraordinary importance.
The Monastero del Corpus Domini contains tombs of the Estes, including
Alfonso I,
Alfonso II,
Ercole I,
Ercole II, as well as
Lucrezia Borgia,
Eleonora d'Aragona, and a dozen others.
Other sites include:
Synagogues and a
Jewish Museum are located in the heart of the mediæval centre, close to the cathedral and the Castello Estense. This street was part of the
ghetto in which the Jews were separated from the rest of the population of Ferrara from about 1627 to
1859.
Ferrara in culture
The famous friar
Girolamo Savonarola and the musician
Girolamo Frescobaldi were both born in Ferrara, as well as the painters
Giovanni Boldini (
1842) and
Filippo de Pisis (
1896).
Apart from Tasso and Ariosto, the other notable Renaissance writer
Matteo Maria Boiardo worked here. Ferrara was able to develop its own lineage or
School of painters and artists. The list of painters and artists living in Ferrara must be completed with the names of
Andrea Mantegna,
Giovanni Bellini,
Leon Battista Alberti,
Pisanello,
Piero della Francesca,
Rogier van der Weyden, Battista Dossi (brother of
Dosso Dossi) and
Titian.
The
Ferrara Bible was a translation of the Old Testament into
Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish) by Sephardic Jews and dedicated to Ercole II.
Ferrara was the setting of the famous novel
Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (
The Garden of the Finzi-Contini) by
Giorgio Bassani and of its movie adaptation by
Vittorio De Sica in (
1970).
Wim Wenders and
Michelangelo Antonioni's
Al di là delle nuvole in (
1995) and
Ermanno Olmi's
Il mestiere delle armi in (
2001), a film about the last days of
Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, were also shot here.
The
Palium of St. George is a typical medieval feast held every last Sunday of May. The
Buskers Festival is a non-competitive parade of the best street musicians in the world. In terms of tradition and dimension it's the most important festival of this kind.
Additionally, Ferrara is becoming the Italian capital of
hot air balloons, thanks to the ten-day-long
Ferrara Balloons Festival, the biggest celebration of balloons in Italy and one of the largest in Europe.
Ferrara is the birthplace and childhood home of the well-known Italian
film director,
Michelangelo Antonioni who died in July 2007. The Mayor of Ferrara has announced that his museum, which was closed for renovation, won't reopen and no museum dedictated to Antonioni's cinema work will be opened.
Sport
Ferrara's local football team,
Società Polisportiva Ars Et Labor 1907 is struggling in
Serie C2, which is the fourth highest football league in
Italy.
Twin towns
Ferrara is
twinned with:
Krasnodar, Russia
Lleida, Spain
Saint-Étienne, France
Swansea, United Kingdom
Koper, Slovenia
Szombathely, Hungary
Zilina, Slovakia
Highland Park, Illinois
Politics
After the municipal elections on June 12 and 13 2004, the division of the 40 seats in the Ferrara city council was as followed:
Democratici di Sinistra - 15
Forza Italia - 8
Alleanza Nazionale - 6
La Margherita - 2
La Rosa nel Pugno - 2
Io amo Ferrara - 2
Rifondazione Comunista - 2
Comunisti Italiani - 2
Verdi per la pace - 1Further Information
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