Surely things to do in Ferrara are much more than you can imagine, in particular, if you have never been there and you do not even need many days of stay. Being a relatively small city and easy to get around on foot ( almost) everywhere without the need for cars or motorised transport vehicles or bicycles, enjoying the Emilian charm and the days of haze if you go in late autumn or winter.
Ferrara is the city of the Counts of Este and, therefore, beginning by suggesting a visit to the Estense castle. The admission ticket costs 8 euros, which can be added 2 euros to visit the Tower of the Lions; the video guide costs another 2 euros and the guided tour, which from the information on the site seems to give a right to the reduced ticket, costs 4 euros. It takes almost two hours to visit it calmly. I still have to admit that it was partly disappointed: the “ground floor”, from which we start the visit, is very bare and with very Spartan reconstructions (I was expecting, frankly, to find slightly more gorgeous reconstructions and not simply “things to read”).
The rooms of the prisons are three or four and also empty, but they can still have a certain charm. Going upstairs the visit has become, for me, more satisfying: you begin to see a bit ‘of furniture that create a minimum of reconstruction, along with frescoes (yet) patched because of the earthquake in Emilia a few years ago and a more significant atmosphere from an ancient castle. For all further information, such as any changes in opening hours, closing days or special events, I recommend you visit the official website of the castle itself.
On the opposite side of the street, between the castle and the town hall building, is the Cathedral of Ferrara. The massive construction, whose long side runs along Piazza Trento and Trieste, even if you realise how big it is only once inside: between vaults and chapels, the interior seems almost immense. There werw not many details that attract my attention, except for the nets strained to collect any pieces that could always fall because of the strong earthquake that struck Emilia in 2012. I regret not being able to see the façade, with its structure
with three cusps which is a sort of city symbol, but unfortunately, it was covered by the scaffolding of the renovation works. Admission is free and is open on weekdays from 7.30 to 12.00 and from 15.30-18.30 while on holidays from 7.30 to 12.30 and from 15.30-19.00. If you are looking for specific information about the architecture of the cathedral, you can find it on the website Ferrara terra ed acqua (the official tourism portal of the province of Ferrara).
In my opinion, a must is a walk through the historic center of Ferrara; it is a UNESCO heritage since 1995 as a “marvelous example of a city designed in the Renaissance, which preserves its historical center intact and which expresses urban planning canons that have had a profound influence for the development of urbanism in the following centuries “. Council to get up to Via Delle Volte made special by the perspective due to the many vault that characterise throughout its length. Along the way, there are numerous restaurants and trattorias where you can stop for lunch.
Not far from the botanical garden, which I have not visited, is the Palazzo dei Diamanti: residence of Sigismondo d’Este, brother of Duke Ercole I, It owes its name to the 8000 white and pink marble “bugne”, in the shape of a pyramid or a “diamond”, found on the external walls. Inside the palace, there is the National Art Gallery (on the main floor) and, on the ground floor, the Exhibition Space where the exhibitions organized by Ferrara Arte are set up. During my stay in the city the exterior was under renovation and, therefore, I was not able to better appreciate the external façade.
For a stop at the park, to end the day around the city, I chose the Parco Massari, on the other side of the road from the diamond palace. It covers an area of about 4 hectares and was designed in 1780 by the Ferrara architect Luigi Bertelli for the Marquis Camillo Bevilacqua and, towards the middle of the nineteenth century, the Counts Massari became the owners of the building transforming it into an English park. Inside there are some ancient trees: two Cedars of Lebanon at the entrance, some yews, an imposing ginkgo and an English oak at the entrance to Corso Ercole I d’Este. Since 1936 the park is owned by the Municipality of Ferrara, which has decided to make it a public park.