Biagio Rossetti (c.

1447 – 1516) was

an Italian architect and urbanist from Ferrara. A military engineer since
1483, and the ducal architect of Ercole I d'Este, in 1492 Rossetti was
assigned the project of enlarging the city of Ferrara.
Rossetti is considered the first architect in the history of urbanistics to
make use of the advantages of the modern methods: balancing the
humanistic principles in architecture, the real needs of the city, and
local traditions. Beginning in 1492, he projected and directed
construction of the defense walls around the city.
After Ercole's death in 1505, Rossetti served the Cardinal Ippolito d'Este,
in which role he was responsible for the creation of many
notable palazzi and churches. Among the latter, he helped design Santa
Maria in Vado.
Ferrara ([ferˈraːra] listen (help·info); Ferrarese: Fràra, IPA: [ˈfraːra]) is a
town and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of
the Province of Ferrara. As of 2016it had 132,009 inhabitants.[1] It is
situated 44 kilometres (27 miles) northeast of Bologna, on the Po di
Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located
5 km (3 miles) 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.
Ferrara

Comune

Comune di Ferrara
 Clockwise from top: Piazza Ariostea, Ferrara
Cathedral, Corso Martiri della Libertà, Ferrara
City Theatre, Certosa of Ferrara,
Monumental water tower, and Castle Estense.

Flag
Coat of arms
 Ferrara

Location of Ferrara in Italy

Coordinates: 44°50′N 11°37′E

Country Italy

Region Emilia-Romagna

Province Ferrara (FE)

Antiquity and Middle AgesEdit

Etruscan jewellery is displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Ferrara.

The first documented settlements in the area of the present-day
Province of Ferrara date from the 6th century BC.[2] The ruins of
the Etruscan town of Spina, established along the lagoons at the ancient
mouth of Po river, were lost until modern times, when drainage
schemes in the Valli di Comacchio marshes in 1922 first officially
revealed a necropolis with over 4,000 tombs, evidence of a population
centre that in Antiquity must have played a major role.[3]
There is uncertainty among scholars about the proposed Roman origin
of the settlement in its current location (Tacitus and Boccacciorefer to a
"Forum Alieni"[4]), for little is known of this period,[5] but some
archeologic evidence points to the hypothesis that Ferrara could have
been originated from two small Byzantine settlements: a cluster of
facilities around the Cathedral of St. George, on the right bank of the
main branch of the Po, which then ran much closer to the city than
today, and a castrum, a fortified complex built on the left bank of the
river to defend against the Lombards.[6]
Ferrara appears first in a document of the Lombard king Desiderius of
753 AD, when he captured the town from the Exarchate of Ravenna.
[7] Later the Franks, after routing the Lombards, presented Ferrara to
the Papacy in 754 or 756.[5] In 988 Ferrara was ceded by the Church to
the House of Canossa, but at the death of Matilda of Tuscany in 1115 it
became a free commune.[6] During the 12th century the history of the
town was marked by the wrestling for power between two preeminent
families, the Guelph Adelardi and the Ghibelline Salinguerra; however, at
this point, the powerful Imperial House of Estehad thrown his decisive
weight behind the Salinguerra and eventually reaped the benefits of
victory for themselves.[6] In 1264 Obizzo II of Este was thus proclaimed
lifelong ruler of Ferrara, Lord of Modena in 1288 and of Reggio in 1289.
His rule marked the end of the communal period in Ferrara and the
beginning of the Este rule, which lasted until 1598.
Early modernEdit
Main article: Duchy of Ferrara
Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto, is traditionally assumed to be Lucrezia Borgia.

In 1452 Borso of Este was created duke of Modena and Reggio by Emperor
Frederick IIIand in 1471 duke of Ferrara by Pope Paul II.[8]Lionello and,
especially, Ercole I were among the most important patrons of the arts in
late 15th- and early 16th-century Italy. During this time, Ferrara grew
into an international cultural centre, renowned for its architecture,
music, literature and visual arts.[9]
The architecture of Ferrara greatly benefited from the genius of Biagio
Rossetti, who was requested in 1484 by Ercole I to draft a masterplan
for the expansion of the town. The resulting "Erculean Addition" is
considered one of the most important examples of Renaissance urban
planning[10]and contributed to the selection of Ferrara as a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
In spite of having entered its golden age, Ferrara was severely hit by
a war against Venice fought and lost in 1482–84. Alfonso Isucceeded to
the throne in 1505 and married the notorious Lucrezia Borgia. He again
fought Venice in the Italian Wars after joining the League of Cambrai. In
1509 he was excommunicated by Pope Julius II, but was able to overcome
the Papal and Spanish armies in 1512 at the Battle of Ravenna. These
successes were based on Ferrara's artillery, produced in his own
foundry which was the best of its time.[11][12]
At his death in 1534, Alfonso I was succeeded by his son Ercole II that
in 1528 married Renée of France, the second daughter of Louis XII, thus
bringing great prestige to the court of Ferrara. Under his reign, the
Duchy remained an affluent country and a cultural powerhouse.
However, an earthquake struck the town in 1570, causing the economy
to collapse, and when Ercole II's son Alfonso II died without heirs, the
House of Este lost Ferrara to the Papal States.
Late modern and contemporaryEdit

Ferrara as it appeared in 1600

Ferrara, a university city second only to Bologna, remained a part of

the Papal Statesfor almost 300 years, an era marked by a steady
decline; in 1792 the population of the town numbered only 27,000, less
than in the 17th century.[13] In 1805-1814 it became briefly part of
the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, a client-state of the French Empire. After
the 1815 Congress of Vienna, Ferrara was given back to the Pope, now
guaranteed by the Empire of Austria. A bastion fort erected in the 1600s
by Pope Paul V on the site of and old castle called "Castel Tedaldo", at
the south-west angle of the town, was thus occupied by
an Austrian garrison from 1832 until 1859. All of the fortress was
dismantled following the birth of the Kingdom of Italy and the bricks
used for new constructions all over the town.[14]

Downtown Ferrara around 1900

During the last decades of the 1800s and the early 1900s, Ferrara
remained a modest trade centre for its large rural hinterland that
relied on commercial crops such as sugar beet and industrial hemp.
Large land reclamationworks were carried out for decades with the aim
to expand the available arable land and eradicate malaria from the
wetlands along the Po delta.[15] Mass industrialisation came to Ferrara
only at the end of the 1930s with the set-up of a chemical plant by the
Fascist regime that should have supplied the regime with synthetic
rubber.[16] During the Second World War Ferrara was repeatedly bombed
by Allied warplanes that targeted and destroyed railway links and
industrial facilities. After the war, the industrial area
in Pontelagoscurowas expanded to become a giant petrochemical
compound operated by Montecatini and other companies, that at its
peak employed 7,000 workers and produced 20% of plastics in Italy.
[17] In recent decades, as part of a general trend in Italy and Europe,
Ferrara has come to rely more on tertiary and tourism, while the heavy
industry, still present in the town, has been largely phased out.
After almost 450 years, another earthquakestruck Ferrara in May 2012
causing only limited damage to the historic buildings of the town and
no victims.
Geography and climateEdit

Map of Ferrara and its Province

The town of Ferrara lies on the southern shores of the Po river, about 44 km
(27 mi.) north-east of the regional capital, Bologna, and 87 km (54 mi.) south
of Venice. The territory of the municipality, entirely part of the Padan plain, is
overwhelmingly flat, situated on average just 9 metres (30 ft.) above sea-
level.[18] The proximity to the largest Italian river has been a constant
concern in the history of Ferrara, that has been affected by recurrent,
disastrous floods, the latest occurring as recently as 1951.[19]The Idrovia
Ferrarese links the river Po from Ferrara to the Adriatic at Porto Garibaldi.
The climate of the Po valley is classified as humid subtropical (Cfa) under
the Köppen climate classification, a type of climate commonly referred to as
"continental", that features severe winters and warm summers and heavy
rains in spring and autumn.[20]
ArchitectureEdit
Este Castle covered in snow

The imposing Este Castle, sited in the very centre of the town, is iconic
of Ferrara. A very large manor house featuring four massive bastions
and a moat, it was erected in 1385 by architect Bartolino da Novara with
the function to protect the town from external threats and to serve as
a fortified residence for the Este family.[23] It was extensively
renovated in the 15th and 16th centuries.[23]

The Gothic façade of the Cathedral

The Cathedral of Saint George, designed by Wiligelmus and consecrated

in 1135, is one of the finest examples of Romanesque architecture.
[24] The duomo has been renovated many times through the centuries,
thus its resulitng eclectic style is a harmonious combination of the
Romanesque central scructure and portal, the Gothic upper part of the
façade and the Renaissance campanile.[6] The sculptures of the main
portal are attributed to Nicholaus. The upper part of the main façade,
with arcades of pointed arches, dates from the 13th century. The
recumbent marble lions guarding the portals are copies of the
originals, now in the cathedral's museum. An elaborated 13th-century
relief depicting the Last Judgement is found in the second storey of the
porch. The interior was restored in baroque style in 1712. The
marble campanile attributed to Leon Battista Alberti[25] was initiated in
1412 but is still incomplete, missing one projected additional storey
and a dome, as it can be observed from numerous historical prints and
paintings on the subject.[4]
Near the cathedral and the castle also lies the 15th-century city hall,
that served as an earlier residence of the Este family, featuring a
grandiose marble flight of stairs and two ancient bronze statues of
Niccolò III and Borso of Este.[6]
The southern district is the town's oldest, crossed by a myriad of
narrow alleys that date back to the Early Middle Ages. Casa Romei is
perhaps the best preserved Medieval building in Ferrara. It was the
private residence of a merchant Giovanni Romei, related by marriage
to the Este family, and likely the work of the court architect Pietrobono
Brasavola.[26] Thanks to the nunsof the Corpus Domini order, much of
the original decorations in the inner rooms have been saved. The
house features fresco cycles in the "Sala delle Sibille" ("room of
sibyls"), an original terracotta fireplace bearing the coat of arms of
Giovanni Romei in the adjoining Saletta dei Profeti ("room of the
prophets"), depicting allegories from the Bible, and in other rooms,
some of which were commissioned by cardinal Ippolito d'Este, paintings
by the school of Camillo and Cesare Filippi (16th century).[6]

Palazzo dei Diamanti, seat of the National Gallery

Palazzo Schifanoia ("sans souci") was built in 1385 for Alberto V d'Este.
The palazzo includes frescoes depicting the life of Borso d'Este, the
signs of the zodiac and allegoricalrepresentations of the months.
The vestibulewas decorated with stucco mouldings by Domenico di Paris.
The building also contains fine choir-books with miniatures and a
collection of coins and Renaissance medals. The Renaissance Palazzo
Paradiso, part of the Ferrara University library system, displays part of
the manuscript of Orlando furioso and letters by Tasso as well
as Ludovico Ariosto's grave. Its famous alumni include Nicolaus
Copernicus and Paracelsus.
The northern quarter, which was added by Ercole I in 1492–1505 thanks
to the master plan of Biagio Rossetti, and hence called the Addizione
Erculea, features a number of Renaissance palazzi. Among the finest
is Palazzo dei Diamanti (Diamond Palace), named after the diamond points
into which the façade's stone blocks are cut. The palazzohouses 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 include Lorenzo
Costa and Dosso Dossi, the most eminent of all, Girolamo da
Carpi and Benvenuto Tisi (il Garofalo).[6] The district is also home
to University of Ferrara Botanic Garden.
Parks and gardensEdit

A section of the Renaissance walls

The town is still almost totally encircled by 9 kilometres (6 miles) of

ancient brick walls, mostly built between 1492 and 1520.[6] Today the
walls, after a careful restoration, make up a large urban park around
the town and are a popular destination for joggers and cyclists.