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Strange to say, but even cities can give you quite romantic landscapes during the autumn. The wind lashing against the trees in the parks, the wide alleys turning into huge colourful carpets… In the historical centres, men and women of all ages go for a long stroll, seizing the warmth of the last rays of sun, while groups of children run after each...

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Ferrara, loderò le  tue vie piane/grandi come fiumane,/che conducono all’infinito chi va solo col suo pensiero ardente: I shall praise your flat streets/as large as rivers/that lead to infinity those walking alone with their fiery thoughts. That’s how our Gabriele d’Annunzio, patriotic poet and high representative of Italy’s Decadentismo described...

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The first modern city and one of the culturally most important Italian Renaissance city states, Ferrara was one of the European capitals of culture, arts, politics, gastronomy, in addition to being a reference point for artists, poets and minstrels. The Estense dynasty was a great family of eccentric and well-educated patrons which transformed a ru...

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The epigraph etched in Latin on the ancient stone tablet was short and tender: “Claudia Aster, prisoner from Jerusalem.” Brought to Rome in chains after the quelling of the revolt in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., she was apparently the concubine of a Roman notable who wanted to give her a dignified burial and added an unusual element to the funerary stone....

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The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is not a real place. We should say that first. You’d be forgiven for thinking that it is, and you wouldn’t be alone. It was invented in Giorgio Bassani’s 1962 historical novel of the same name, and in the 1970 Oscar-winning movie adaptation. It is a place of young love, refuge, and tennis, a place so carefully and l...

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The region of Emilia Romagna was named the best place to visit in Europe by Lonely Planet this year. The Local takes a look at one of its underrated gems, Ferrara, and offers six great reasons why you should make time to explore this small but perfectly formed medieval town. The perfect way to get your bearings is to take a tour of the incredibly w...

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In the past, when the powerful Este dynasty ruled the duchies of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio in Emilia-Romagna, the palaces and castles they owned were decorated with precious paintings even on the outside, especially in order to convey political messages and to celebrate the history of the family, who dominated the area for almost six centuries, fr...

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Ferrara: oh, the tragedy of having overlooked this beauty of an Italian city for so many years! But we’re in the good company of a whole lot of other folks, it seems, with their heads in the Italian sand. Thankfully, this egregious error was corrected on a trip my husband and I shared recently.  Strategically located on the expansive Po River delta...

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Dopo una lunga esperienza di curatore, direttore e funzionario di sovraintendenza in varie città italiane (Parma, Piacenza, Modena, San Sepolcro) da due anni lei è il Senior Curator del J. Paul Getty di Los Angeles. Come mai?    «Direi un po’ per caso. Ero stato tra il 2011 e il 2012 Fellow al Metropolitan Museum a New York e questa esperienza ha i...

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The city of Ferrara rises on the banks of the Po di Volano River, in the southern plain of Emilia. Over the centuries, this magnificent city has been able to maintain the great prestige it experienced during the era of the House of Este.

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