Ferrara is a city and comune (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. As of 2016, it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated 44 kilometres 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 Renaissance, when it hosted the court of the House of Este. For its beauty and cultural importance, it has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The House of Este is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries.
Francesco del Cossa was an Italian Renaissance painter of the School of Ferrara, who after 1470 worked in Bologna. Cossa is best known for his frescoes, especially his collaboration with Cosimo Tura on a cycle of the months in the Palazzo Schifanoia of the Este family, rulers of Ferrara. Otherwise, his paintings are mostly of religious subjects, with some portraits and drawings attributed to him. He also designed stained glass.
Cosmè Tura, also known as Il Cosmè or Cosimo Tura, was an Italian early-Renaissance painter and considered one of the founders of the School of Ferrara. He provided a great contribution to the Renaissance in Ferrara.
Palazzo dei Diamanti is a Renaissance palace located on Corso Ercole I d'Este 21 in Ferrara, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy. The main floor of the Palace houses the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara.
Borso d'Este was the duke of Ferrara the first duke of Modena, which he ruled from 1450 until his death. He was a member of the House of Este.
The Ducal Palace in Sassuolo is a Baroque villa located in the town of Sassuolo, thirty minutes outside Modena, northern Italy.
Ercole de' Roberti, also known as Ercole Ferrarese or Ercole da Ferrara, was an Italian artist of the Early Renaissance and the School of Ferrara. He was profiled in Vasari's Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori. The son of the doorkeeper at the Este castle, Ercole later held the position of court artist for the Este family in Ferrara. According to Vasari:
Ercole had an extraordinary love of wine, and his frequent drunkenness did much to shorten his life, which he had enjoyed without any accident up to the age of forty, when he was smitten one day by apoplexy, which made an end of him in a short time.
Taddeo Crivelli, also known as Taddeo da Ferrara, was an Italian painter of illuminated manuscripts. He is considered one of the foremost 15th-century illuminators of the Ferrara school, and also has the distinction of being the probable engraver of the first book illustrated with maps, which was also the first book using engraving.
The Sala dei Cento Giorni is the largest reception room, the Salone d'Onore on the piano nobile, of the Palazzo della Cancelleria or Chancellery in Central Rome, Italy. The frescoes by Giorgio Vasari and his studio in 1547, epitomize the Mannerist style. Supposedly they were completed in a hundred days.
The Palazzo Bonacossi is a Renaissance architecture palace located on Via Cisterna del Follo #5 in Ferrara, Italy. The 15th-century palace is the home of the Musei Civici di Arte Antica e Museo Riminaldi.
The Palazzo Paradiso is a Renaissance palace located on Via Scienze #17 in the medieval center of Ferrara, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Adjacent to the historic Jewish ghetto of Ferrara, it houses:
The Studiolo of the Palazzo Belfiore was a former study, or room for intellectual pursuits, that was once found in a razed Renaissance palace in Ferrara, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. While the palace has disappeared, records do list the paintings, consisting of depictions of muses, that hung in the room. These secular works are now dispersed across museums, but their collective presences recall the renewed attention of Renaissance patrons to symbols from classic mythology.
Marfisa d'Este was a Ferrarese noblewoman. She was the illegitimate daughter of Francesco d'Este and Maria Folch de Cardona. She and her sister Bradamante were legitimised by both pope Gregory XIII and Alfonso II d'Este. She was also notable as a patron of the arts and the protector of Torquato Tasso.
The Castello di San Giorgio is part of the Ducal palace of Mantua. It is a moated rectangular castle, each of which's four corners has a large tower and the moat is crossed by three drawbridges.
Delightful Palace of Belriguardo or Delightful Villa of Belriguardo is the headquarters of the Museo civico di Belriguardo. It was built by Niccolò III d'Este. Lucrezia Borgia stayed here frequently.
The Gallerie Estensi is a network of three museums and a library, bringing together the collective fruits of artistic production from Ferrara, Modena and Sassuolo in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. The galleries aim to preserve the historic heritage left by the influential House of Este, with a focus on relating their past to the local communities at each site.
The Pinacotecta Nazionale is an art gallery in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is located on the piano nobile of the Palazzo dei Diamanti, a work of Renaissance architecture by Biagio Rossetti, commissioned by Leonello d’Este in 1447. Not to be confused with the Civic Museum on the lower floor, which has hosted temporary exhibitions of contemporary art since 1992, the Pinacoteca houses a collection of paintings by the Ferrarese School dating from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries. It was founded in 1836 by the Municipality of Ferrara after Napoleon's widespread dissolution of churches threatened the protection of important public artworks. The gallery is formed as much around notable northern Italian painters as it is around the exquisite interior decoration of the palace itself, together with remnants of frescoes from local churches and later acquisitions from the Sacrati Strozzi collection.
The Municipal Palace of Ferrara is located in Piazza del Municipio 2. It was the ducal residence of the Este family until the 16th century, when the court moved to the nearby Castello Estense. It is the seat of the municipality of Ferrara.
The Renaissance in Ferrara began with the signoria of Leonello d'Este around the mid-15th century. Under Leonello's patronage, Ferrara became a hub for the arts and intellectual thought, attracting prominent artists and scholars of the time. A significant contribution came from the school of painters, including Cosmè Tura, Francesco del Cossa, and Ercole de' Roberti. These artists were known for their innovative use of color, intricate detail, and emotive expressions, helping to define early Italian Renaissance art.
