Cultural Sites

It is the majestic symbol of Ferrara with the four towers surrounded by the moat, the red terracotta bricks, the elegant white balustrades, the prisons and the halls for games and court entertainment.

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METHOD OF VISIT

In compliance with the government provisions in force, provided for all Italian cultural sites (ref. DL of 23 July 2021), from 6 August 2021 it is mandatory that visitors show the Green Pass accompanied by a valid identity document to access the Castello Museum. Estense.

The provisions do not apply to children under the age of 12 and to individuals with specific medical certification.

Reservations are strongly recommended

The splendid Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara is located in the center of the Addizione Erculea, on the important intersection called "Quadrivio degli Angeli" and was the residence of Sigismondo d'Este, brother of Duke Ercole I.
More than 8000 points, in the shape of a pyramid or "diamond", in white and pink marble, cover the two sides, giving it its name. The architect Biagio Rossetti made it an urban masterpiece, above all by placing the main decoration on the corner: an artifice intended to underline the importance of the intersection and to make the building a completely original work, created for the perspective view rather than of facade. The corner, in fact, is embellished with splendid candelabra sculpted by Gabriele Frisoni and a graceful balcony, slightly behind, which accentuates the visual direction towards the nearby Piazza Ariostea. The internal structure develops on three wings, with a U-shaped plan originally symmetrical, but altered by subsequent renovations. The building is now home to museums: - it hosts the  National Picture Gallery  and on the ground floor it  Exhibition space , where the renowned exhibitions of the Palazzo dei Diamanti organized by Ferrara Arte are held.

Extraordinary testimony of the splendor of the Renaissance era, Palazzo Schifanoia is the symbol of Ferrara degli Este. The new exhibition itinerary gives visitors back a modern, large and engaging museum: 21 rooms, 1400 square meters of exhibition itinerary, about 250 works to contemplate, a new set-up and special lights to enhance the frescoes of the "Salone dei Mesi"

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"The house is small but suitable for me, clean, not burdened with royalties and purchased only with my money", this is the inscription on the facade of the house where Ludovico Ariosto (1474 - 1533), spent the last years of his existence dedicating himself to the third and definitive edition of the Orlando Furioso, released in 1532.

The house, probably built on a design by Girolamo da Carpi, has a simple but elegant facade in exposed brick.

The Cathedral of Ferrara, built starting from the 12th century, bears the marks of all the historical periods crossed by the city. FACADE PARTIALLY COVERED UNTIL DATE TO BE DESTINED due to restoration work.

The upper part, a few decades later, is in Gothic style and presents, in addition to the numerous arches and splayed windows, a magnificent Last Judgment sculpted by an unknown, above the central loggia.

Under these sculptures there is an elegant Gothic loggia containing a statue, formerly gilded, of the Virgin and Child, a work of the first half of the fifteenth century attributed to Michele da Firenze.

In the lower part of the façade, on the left, a plaque commemorates the passage of Ferrara from the Este power to that of Pope Clement VIII. On the right, inside a niche, is the statue of the Marquis Alberto d'Este, founder of the University (1391).

The side facing Piazza Trento e Trieste is decorated with two loggias with sculpted columns. Below is the Loggia dei Merciai, occupied by shops since the Middle Ages.

At the center of the side you can see the surviving structures of the ancient Porta dei Mesi, destroyed in the 18th century, whose sculptures are partly preserved in the Cathedral Museum.
The imposing Renaissance bell tower, in eroded white marble, is an unfinished work attributed to Leon Battista Alberti.

The brick apse is the work of the greatest architect and urban planner from Ferrara, Biagio Rossetti.

The monastery is located in the ancient city, in the center of a maze of alleys, in an area, in the Middle Ages, one of the most elegant of Ferrara, a few steps from via di San Francesco and from the palace that the Este family owned on that road. Founded in 1406 and approved under the rule of Santa Chiara in 1431, the monastery owes its fame to the figure of Santa Caterina Vegri, a damsel of noble origins who abandoned the luxuries of the court, where she lived, to retire to religious life. Mystic and writer, she lived here until 1456 and was declared a saint in 1712, by virtue of a miracle linked to the cooking of loaves.

The terracotta façade faces Via Campofranco and retains the original decorative elements, such as the Gothic portal surmounted by a small rose window.

Inside are the public church and the choir room where famous people of the Este family are buried: Ercole II, Eleonora d'Aragona, Alfonso I and his second wife, the famous Lucrezia Borgia, Alfonso II, last duke . Furthermore Eleonora, daughter of Alfonso I, and Lucrezia, daughter of Ercole II, nuns in this place. At the end of the choir, under a small plaque, the remains of many other Este family members have been collected, coming from the disappeared church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.