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CULTURE >Este Culture | |||||||||||||
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Este Culture |
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Torquato Tasso once defined it “Woman of the river Po”: the ups and downs of Ferrara, timeless town set in a metaphysical dimension, have always been linked to changeable environmental conditions, with water as the main element. An amphibian town, risen among moorlands and stretches of water, surrounded by fog. Thanks to a very particular alchemy of events, the rich aristocracy with its manifest or intestine wars, and an enlightened expansion and sometimes contraction policy – mainly linked to the complex dynamics of the Italic and European chessboard – made the scant village of huts along the river Po become a town rich in splendour: the beautiful and noble Ferrara, which the Dukes of Este will turn into a wonderful Renaissance example. The history of Ferrara can still be read in its stones, in its town planning division – completed by the Addizione erculea, i.e. the expansion of the town carried out according to the will of Duke Ercole I d’Este -, and in its glorious but at the same time intimate spatial conception: sumptuous and shining inside its buildings, sober and refined in its exterior architectural scenario. An architectural “landscape” which, together with the so-called “Delizie estensi”, i.e. wonderful edifices built according to the will of the Dukes, has been declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1999. Such beauty has enchanted people for centuries, becoming a charming scenario, both physical and spiritual, for the soul of poets and artists. Ariosto and Tasso used to walk among these quarters, accompanied by Dosso Dossi, Cosmè Tura, Leon Battista Alberti, forerunners of other more recent inspirations by Carrà and De Chirico, Boldini and Bassani, both from Ferrara. The town with its central square and its bronze statues of the Este family standing like sentinels, the Cathedral with its facade tidily and equally divided into three parts, with Gothic elements decorating the Romanesque plan – the Cathedral Museum houses valuable works of art – and with the Castello dei regnanti, which has abandoned the frowning aspect of its primary defensive vocation to give way to its embattled high towers, its continuous balconies, and its wide windows. Among the buildings and streets which make of Ferrara a unique town planning example in the world, we cannot forget, besides the 15th-century Este Castle, the Palazzo dei Diamanti, seat of the Modern Art Gallery and of the National Picture Gallery, Palazzo Massari, which is the seat of important museums, the Delizia di Schifanoia, the church of San Francesco, the church of San Giorgio, the Palazzo di Renata di Francia. The characteristic via delle Volte is probably the longest medieval street existing nowadays. Standing out among the several events which enrich the town cultural life, the famous “Ferrara Musica”, a prestigious music festival, and the great exhibitions that are periodically held in Ferrara: two events expressing the great cultural tradition started by the Este family. The influence of the Este court spread beyond the town borders. In particular, along the river Po several “case di delizia” have been built: Belriguardo Castle, Delizia del Verginese and, down to the mouth of the river Po, the Mesola Castle, a hunting lodge for the Este court and a defensive garrison for this border area. The court also reached the Valli di Comacchio. In Delizia le Casette – whose building materials have been used afterwards to build the lagoon fishing lodges called “casoni” – the Renaissance splendour echoed among the swarming water. Link to the Province of Ferrara Link to Events Link to the Bibliography |