Welcome Hivers, how are you? Today I'm taking you on a little weekend trip to one of my favorite Italian cities, Ferrara. A city that remains in your heart because of how beautiful it is. I'll tell you a little about the city and then I'll focus on the places we visited. Ferrara has a long history, it was the ancient capital of the Estense duchy, and was a very popular place during the Renaissance, where art, culture, beauty and architecture flourished.
Ferrara has been home to many noble families since the Romanesque era, also home to the archbishopric located in the cathedral created around 1100, the family who then took possession of Ferrara making it famous are the Este, a conquest that was not easy, Ferrara was also desired by other families and by the Republic of Venice. The Este ruled over Ferrara for almost three centuries, taking care of the urban planning that made it one of the most modern and desired cities, they established a university that hosted illustrious names such as Paracelsus, Pico della Mirandola and Pisanello, art and culture were at their peak during the dominion of the Este family who made the city a hub of intellectuals, even one of the most important ecumenical councils was held in Ferrara.
Ferrara was also a military power famous for its modern artillery. After the dominion of the Este it returned to belong to the Papal State and then to the Kingdom of Sardinia which ghettoised the large Jewish community that had lived in Ferrara for centuries. The city was also home to one of the prison camps built in anticipation of deporting the Jews during the second World War. Ferrara's history is long and full of beautiful and dark moments. But now let's talk about the first part of the trip to this interesting and rich city. Let's start from our first stop in this magnificent place, the Certosa, a symbolic place of the city.
The Certosa cemetery is surrounded by a large lawn with cypress trees and is also the site of the church of San Cristoforo, this place, as the name suggests, was a monastery of Carthusian monks, which has undergone various changes over the years and heavy damage in the 2012 earthquake however it has now been restored, in the cemetery there are many funerary monuments of illustrious people and also a small Jewish cemetery and two cloisters with rich sarcophagi and mortuary chapels of the Este family.
The church of San Cristoforo, on the other hand, dates back to 1400 and also suffered various damages, especially during the Second World War. Inside we find a single nave and a sumptuous and grandiose atmosphere. In the church, in addition to frescoes and religious icons, we also find bas-reliefs and frescoes dedicated to the Este family.
We also find the temple of San Cristoforo, a beautiful and imposing wooden architecture restored in the 2000s.
We continued going towards the city center where the castle is located, which unfortunately we were not able to visit internally, a shame, I visited it about five or six years ago and it was a magnificent place, however on the way to the castle we saw numerous buildings and beautiful statues and monuments, it seems that every corner of Ferrara is full of beauty and art.
Regarding the castle, it is obviously an Estense castle (what's new right?) and is another of the city's symbols, it is located in the center of the city and was built around 1300 as a defensive fortress both from enemies and from the numerous revolts of the starving people, surrounded also from a defensive moat, it has undergone many changes over the years but remains a fascinating place also home to exhibitions and cultural meetings.
That's all for today, soon I will also publish the second part of my journey, dedicated to the cathedral and the place where we stopped to eat. Happy travels to all Hivers!