Ferrara and the Castello Estense
UNESCO World Heritage Site (Ferrara, City Of The Renaissance, And Its Po Delta, Inscribed 1995 And Extended 1999), Centred On The Moated Castello Estense Of 1385 · Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna
Ferrara is the one Renaissance city that was planned rather than grown, and it shows. The Este family ran it for three centuries, and in the 1490s they commissioned an extension to the north on a grid of long straight streets so wide and so empty that it is often called the first modern town plan in Europe. At the centre sits their castle, begun in 1385, still moated on all four sides in the middle of the traffic, with ice-cold basement cells and painted ceilings directly above them. Round the outside runs nine kilometres of brick rampart planted with trees, which you can walk or cycle the whole way. The other thing to see is the Palazzo dei Diamanti, faced in eight thousand marble blocks each cut to a point. Ferrara is flat, it is full of bicycles rather than cars, it is half an hour from Bologna, and it gets a fraction of the visitors that go to either of its neighbours. Hire a bicycle on arrival and the whole city, ramparts included, opens up in an afternoon.
Largo Castello 1, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, 44121, Italy
ALL TIMES UNVERIFIED FOR THIS ROW. Broadly: the Castello Estense opens daily with a last admission an hour before closing and one weekly closing day in low season; tower access has been intermittent. Palazzo Schifanoia and the municipal museums close one day a week. The Palazzo dei Diamanti's galleries follow each exhibition's own hours. The cathedral opens daily with a midday interval. The ramparts, Via delle Volte and the streets are public and never close. Bike hire runs shop hours. Confirm before travelling.
Ferrara and the Castello Estense on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos