We visited Ferrara last year at around this time. The town is the setting for the book by Giorgio Bassani called Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini (The Garden of the Finzi Continis) which is a love story set against the backdrop of the trials of the Jewish community under Fascist rule. Having read the book and seen the film, we wanted to see the town.
One of the unlooked-for treasures we found there was the Pallazo Schifanoia (the palace which bans boredom!) built by the Este family in 1470. It certainly bans boredom due to its wonderful room of secular frescoes painted by Francesco del Cossa depicting the months and seasons of the year. We thought
we had "discovered" it, but when we got back to Orkney, Donella gave us Inverness author Ali Smith's prize-winning book How to be Both - which I had heard centred around the work of a renaissance artist. It was a bit weird to find that the renaissance artist concerned was del Cossa himself, with the Schifanoia palace in centre stage.
We liked Ferrara last year, so decided to return this way this time, and revisit the things we had so much enjoyed.
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Just like the Gonzagas in Mantova, the Estes of Ferrara had to have an imposing
castello to keep out their enemies (mostly, apparently, their own people) |
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| A street market was under way in the piazza alongside the duomo when we arrived |
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Francesco del Cossa's depiction of the month of March which features prominently
in Ali Smith's book |
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| ... and a detail April |
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The cafe in the garden of the Palazzo shows its support of Ali Smith's book - which
is presumably not (yet) available in Italian translation |
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In another palazzo, this ceiling fresco showing a balcony view in
trompe l'oeil enthralled us last year |
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| A street in the now depopulated Jewish quarter of Ferrara |
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