Car Rental Ferrara

Ferrara; thirty minutes' train ride north of Bologna, FERRARA was the residence of the Este dukes, an eccentric dynasty that ranked as a major political force throughout Renaissance times. The Este kept the main artists of the day in commissions and built a town which, despite a relatively small population, was - and still is - one of the most elegant urban creations of the period.

When there was no heir, the Este were forced to hand over Ferrara to the papacy and leave for good. Life in Ferrara effectively collapsed: eighteenth-century travellers found a ghost town of empty streets and clogged-up canals infested with mosquitoes. Since then Ferrara has picked itself up, dusted itself down, and is now the centre of a key fruit-producing area, to which the expanse of neat, pollarded trees outside town testifies. It's a popular stop for tourists travelling up from Bologna to Venice, but they rarely stay, leaving the city centre enjoyably tourist-free by the evening.

The bulky, moated Castello Estense (Tues-Sun 9.30am-5pm; L8000/?4.13) dominates the centre of Ferrara, built in response to a late fourteenth-century uprising and generally held at the time to be a major feat of military engineering. But behind its grim brick walls, the Este court thrived, supporting artists like Pisanello, Jacopo Bellini, Mantegna, and the poets Ariosto and Tasso. The Este dukes were a pragmatic lot, with a range of ways of raising cash: keeping tax levels just ahead of their court expenses, boosting cashflow by selling official titles, putting up the tolls for traffic along the Po, and supplying troops for the various rulers of Naples, Milan or Florence.

The first of the Este to live here was Nicolò II, who commissioned the castle, though descendants were really responsible for its decoration. One of the most famous members of the family was Nicolò III d'Este, who took over in 1393. Nicolò was a well-known patron of the arts, but he was most notorious for his amorous liaisons and, although the 27 children he admitted to siring seems excessive, it's likely that he was responsible for many more offspring than his legitimate heir, Ercole. He was also a ruthless man, reputedly murdering his wife Parisina and his son by another woman, Ugo, when he discovered that they were having an affair. Two other sons, Leonello and Borso, also became renowned characters and, together with Ercole, oversaw some of Ferrara's most civilized years. Leonello was a friend of the Renaissance man Alberti and became a caricature of the time by virtue of his habit of consulting his horoscope before he chose what to wear in the morning. Borso loved hunting and thundered through the woods at Mesola on horseback, dressed in velvet and jewels. Ercole's children, Beatrice and Isabella, married into the Sforza and Gonzaga families, thus sealing the Este's status as one of the most glittering of Renaissance dynasties. Ercole's grandson, Alfonso I, married Lucrezia Borgia, who continued to support the retinue of artists and poets, patronizing Titian and Ariosto - as did the last Este duke, Alfonso II, who invited Tasso and Guarini to his court.

It's hard to credit all this as you walk through the castle now, most of which is used as offices and inaccessible to the public. The few rooms that you can see go some way to bringing back the days of Este magnificence, especially the saletta and Salone dei Giochi or games rooms, decorated by Sebastiano Filippi with vigorous scenes of wrestling, discus-throwing, ball-tossing and chariot-racing - beautifully restored and full of interest. Otherwise it's rather a cold, draughty place on the whole, perhaps at its most evocative in the dungeons, where the sound of water lapping in the moat conjures an image of Este enemies: Ugo and Parisina were incarcerated down here before their execution, and Ferrante and Giulio Este were detained in the dungeon for most of their lives after attempting to depose Alfonso I.

Just south of here, the crenellated Palazzo Comunale , built in 1243 but since much altered and restored, holds statues of Nicolò III and another son, Borso, on its facade - though they're actually twentieth-century reproductions. Walk through the arch into the pretty enclosed square of Piazza Municipio for a view of the rest of the building. Opposite the Palazzo Comunale, the Duomo is a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles and has an undeniably impressive facade, centring on a carved central portal that was begun in the mid-twelfth century by Wiligelmus (of Modena cathedral fame) and finished a century or so later. Much of the carving depicts the Last Judgement , with the damned souls grimacing on the central frieze and hell itself depicted on the central lunette, while below the frieze bodies climb out of their coffins. Inside, the main part of the church has the grandeur of a ballroom, with sparkling chandeliers, but is much less intriguing than the exterior carving, and it's upstairs, in the museum (Mon-Sat 10am-noon & 3-5pm, Sun 10am-noon & 4-6pm; free), that the real treasures are kept. The highlight of the collection is a set of bas-reliefs illustrating the labours of the months, which formerly adorned the outside of the cathedral. There are also illuminated manuscripts, two organ shutters decorated by Cosimo Tura, one of the Annunciation, another showing St George killing the dragon, and a beautiful Madonna by della Quercia.

The long arcaded south side of the duomo flanks Piazza Trento e Trieste , whose rickety-looking rows of shops herald the arcades of the appealing Via San Romano that runs off the far corner of the square, and - beyond - the labyrinth of alleyways that make up Ferrara's medieval quarter; the arched Via delle Volte , a long street running east parallel to Via Carlo Mayr, is one of the most characteristic. On the wider streets above the tangled medieval district are a number of the Renaissance palaces once inhabited by Ferrara's better-heeled families. Most give nothing away with their anonymous facades - all you get is the occasional glimpse of a roof garden or courtyard inside a closing doorway - but a handful are open to the public and give an idea of what life must have been like for the privileged few during Ferrara's heyday. The Casa Romei , at Via Savonarola 30 (Tues-Sat 8.30am-7.30pm & Sun 8.30am-2pm; L4000/?2.07), is a typical building of the time, with frescoes and graceful courtyards alongside artefacts rescued from various local churches. Just beyond is the house, at no. 19, where the monk Savaranola was born and lived for twenty years, while behind the palace, the monastery church of Corpus Domini at Via Pergolata 4 (Mon-Fri 9.30-11.30am & 3.30-5.30pm; free), holds the tombs of Alfonso I and II d'Este and Lucrezia Borgia.