By Susan Short
This Romagnan city is home to museums, attractions, and experiences for all to enjoy
The city of Ferrara is a culturally rich and diverse destination in Emilia Romagna. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ferrara is home to various attractions, museums, and experiences, including the recently refurbished Palazzo dei Diamanti, the Museo Nazionale dell’Ebraismo Italiano e della Shoah – MEIS (National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah), and the new Po River Delta Route. Whether it’s art, history, or nature, there is something for everyone to enjoy and explore in the city of Ferrara.
Newly Renovated Palazzo dei Diamanti
Following the completion of a complex restoration and redevelopment project, Palazzo dei Diamanti reopened its doors in February 2023. A Renaissance palace located on Corso Ercole I d’Este 21 in Ferrara, the main floor houses the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara (National Painting Gallery of Ferrara).
The gallery currently features an exhibition dedicated to two great Renaissance masters from Ferrara: Ercole de’ Roberti and Lorenzo Costa. The over one hundred works on display, coming from museums and collections from all over the world, will offer the public a one-of-a-kind opportunity to discover (or rediscover) the art of two great masters of the Italian Renaissance.
The exhibition constitutes the first stage of a larger and more ambitious project entitled Renaissance in Ferrara 1471-1598 from Borso to Alfonso II d’Este, which will investigate the historical-artistic story of the period between the elevation of the city to dukedom and its passage from the Este dynasty to the direct control of the Papal State.
The other moments of the itinerary, including Cosmè Tura and Francesco del Cossa. Art in Ferrara in the age of Borso d’Este, originally held at Palazzo dei Diamanti in 2007, will be dedicated to the great protagonists of that season: Mazzolino and Ortolano, Dosso and Garofalo, Girolamo da Carpi and Bastianino.
The National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah
Ferrara has been home to a Jewish population since the 12th century and have developed an intricate relationship with the city, which encompasses the various and diverse experiences of the history of Italian Jews over the last millennium. For this reason, it is the ideal location for The Museo Nazionale dell’Ebraismo Italiano e della Shoah – MEIS (National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah). MEIS was founded with the mission to recount over two thousand years of Jewish history in Italy.
One of the main objectives of the MEIS is to bear witness to and document the “Shoah in Italy” through temporary and permanent exhibitions, educational workshops, screenings, and meetings. The museum aims to promote dialogue between different cultures, religions, and ethnic groups and to serve as a place where the history of Italy can be rediscovered through a new point of view.
Experience: Po River Delta Route
In addition to its fascinating museums, Ferrara’s nearby Po Delta area is home to the Argine degli Angeli, or the Embankment of the Angels, the new embankment of the Valli di Comacchio on the Bellocchio – Volta Scirocco route.
Visitors can view myriads of birds along the new Po River Delta route, which stretches over five kilometers in the southern area of the Valli di Comacchio. Built between the Bellocchio fishing station and Volta sirocco, the itinerary takes its cue from the dosso degli Angeli, an ancient and large sandbank in the Comacchio valleys, no longer outcropping and lapped by the embankment route between Valle Lido di Magnavacca and Valle Furlana.
More travel information about the region of Emilia Romagna, visit https://emiliaromagnaturismo.it/en/towns/ferrara
