Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the walk here along a stone-paved road leading past the Palazzo dei Diamanti and
many of the city's most lovely old mansions and brick-walled gardens. Once
inside the dining room, with its cream-colored walls and attractively rustic fur-
nishings, you'll feel you're in the country; there's even an arbor-shaded, partially
enclosed garden for dining in good weather. The pastas are excellent and include
cappellaci
(pasta pillows stuffed with squash in a butter and sage sauce;
€
8) and
tortellini stuffed with Gorgonzola and walnuts (
8). The
salama da sugo
(giant
sausage stewed in tomato sauce;
€
14) comes with mashed potatoes. They make
their own pastries; try the Ferrarese specialty
torta di tagliatelle
(
€
€
5).
Why You're Here: The Top Sights & Attractions
The imposing, moat-encircled
Castello Estense
5
(Via Cavour and Corso Ercole
I d'Este;
%
0532-299233; www.castelloestense.it;
€
6, or
€
10 when there's a
temporary exhibit; June-Mar 2 Tues-Sun 9:30am-5:30pm, Mar 3-May 31 daily
9:30am-5:30pm)
dominates the city center as it did much of Ferrara's Renaissance
history. It was built in 1385, and it was here in 1435 that Nicolo III d'Este, with
a contrivance of window mirrors, caught his young wife, Parisina Maletesta,
in
flagrante delicto
with his son Ugo and had them beheaded in the dank dungeons
below. Robert Browning recounted the deed in his poem “My Last Duchess,” and
today's visitors clamber down a dark staircase to visit the damp cells where the
lovers, and others who fell out of favor with the Este clan, once languished. Not
to be overlooked is the fact that the Estes also made Ferrara a center of art and
learning, and the infamous (and unjustly maligned) Lucrezia Borgia entertained
poets and artists beneath the fragrant bowers of the
orangerie.
Most of the palace is now used as offices for the province, but you can still
catch a glimpse of the Estes' enlightenment in what remains of their grand
salons—the
Sala dell'Aurora
and
Sala dei Giochi (Game Room),
both ornately
festooned with frescoes. Another remnant of court life is the marble
chapel
built
for Renta di Francia, the daughter of Louis XII. Those fond of views and stout of
heart can climb the 122 steps to the top of the
Torre dei Leoni
(which predates
the castle) Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30am to 4:45pm; admission is an
extra
€
1.
With its pink-marble facade highlighted by layers of arches, Ferrara's hand-
some 12th-century
Duomo
55
(Corso Libertà and Piazza Cattedrale;
%
0532-207449; Mon-Sat 7:30am-noon and 3-6:30pm, Sun 7:30am-12:30pm
and 3:30-7:30pm)
reflects a heady mix of the Gothic and the Romanesque. The
glory of the otherwise austere structure is its marble portal, where carvings by an
unknown artist depict a fearsome
Last Judgment.
An 18th-century renovation relegated many of the paintings, sculptures, and
other works that noble families commissioned for the cathedral over the centuries
to the
Museo della Cattedrale
(
%
0532-244949;
€
5; Tues-Sun 9am-1pm and
3-6pm),
installed in the former Church of San Romano around the right side of
the Duomo, at the corner with Via San Romano. The pride of the collection is a
painting depicting St. George slaying the dragon by Cosmè Tura, Ferrara's 15th-
century master. Another masterpiece here is Jacopo della Quercia's
Madonna of
the Pomegranate,
in which Mary seems to balance the fruit in one hand and the
Christ Child in the other. A nearby relief showing the 12 months of the year once
graced the cathedral's exterior, where it served prosaically as a calendar for the
largely illiterate citizenry.
