FERRARA: one of the most beautiful of Italian cities, was
formerly the capital of the Estensi and has been resuscitated in modern
times from the degrading decadence into which it fell with its inclusion
into the Papal States. We enter through Porta Po and going down Corso Porta
Po come to Corso Ercole I d'Este, a crossroad of glorious buildings: the
Palazzo Prosperi-Sacrati, Palazzo di Biago and, above all, the fantastic
Palazzo dei Diamanti, the architectural masterpiece of Biagio Rossetti
(1492), who built it for Sigismondo d'Este and which today houses the
splendid Picture Gallery which is of fundamental importance for an
understanding of the Ferrarese school of painting (Cosme Tura, Ercole
Roberti, Cossa, etc.), but which also has works of Carpaccio and other
Venetian artists.
Turning down the broad Corso Ercole I, amidst beautiful
palaces and gardens, we come to the immense square Este Castle (1385), a
marvel of medieval military architecture, completed over the following
centuries and transformed into a luxuriously palatial residence, whose
furnishings have unfortunately been dispersed: all that remains, to testify
to its former splendor, are several beautiful frescoed rooms.
Leaving the Castle, we go up Corso della Giovecca, turn
off to the right to visit the fine Renaissance Church of San Francesco (15th
century), and then just a little further on, the 15th century Casa Romei;
(frescoes inside), one of the most beautiful houses of Ferrara.
We return to Corso Giovecca to see the delightful
Palazzina di Marfisa d'Este (1559), and across the road, the ancient St.
Anne's Hospital where Tasso was a patient. At the end of the Corso, we turn
and walk along beside the walls, with their background of greenery, then
down Via Scandiana, until we come to Palazzo di Schifanoia (1391-1465),
famous for the Frescoes of the Months, one of the marvels of Italian
Renaissance painting, and which still today testify to the luxurious and
light-hearted court life of Duke Durso d'Este. In the adjoining Museum,
among Renaissance bronzes and Greek and Etruscan vases, the sketch for Moses
by Michelangelo stands out in importance.
Coming out of the Schifanoia Palace, we find immediately to our left the
church of Santa Maria in Vatic, built by Biagio Rossetti and enhanced by
important paintings and a fine cloister. Turning down Borgo Vatic, we come
to the Palazzo di Ludovico II Morn, Rossetti's masterpiece, which houses the
Archaeological Museum, one of the richest in Italy for its Etruscan and
Greek antiquities.
Continuing through the quaint streets of the old city, we
reach the vast Piazza del Mercato at the side of the Romanesque Cathedral
(1135). the architectural masterpiece of Wiligelmo, who designed it, and of
the sculptor Nicole, with its graceful three-pointed facade and its interior
adorned with marbles and paintings: in the choir there is an important
fresco of the Last Judgment by Bastianino, a follower of Michelangelo. In
the adjoining Cathedral Museum, there are paintings by Tura, a Madonna by
Jacopo della Quercia, tapestries and magnificent miniatures. We should then
visit the Palazzo Comunale, with its attractive Renaissance courtyard.
