Castello Estense - History

History

On 3 May 1385, the Ferrarese people, driven to desperation by taxes and flooding that had brought ruin upon them, took themselves to the Marquis Niccolò II d'Este’s palace to ask the advice of Tommaso da Tortona, the high official held to be responsible for this grave situation. Nicolò tried to calm the revolt all day, but by the evening it was clear that the people's spirits were getting more and more angry and that the very safety of the Estensi was endangered. The order was therefore given to summon the disgraced Tommaso, who was given confession and communion and then given to the crowd, who literally tore him to pieces.

This episode, which resulted later in the death of the leaders of the revolt, convinced the Marquis that the family’s palace (which is now the Palazzo Comunale) was insufficient to guarantee the security of the nobility in the event of riots. He therefore ordered the construction of a defensive fortress on the north side of the Palazzo, entrusting the project to the architect Bartolino da Novara. He used a pre-existing tower (the Torre dei Leoni), which was part of the defensive walls, at that period very much to the south of the present ones, running, roughly speaking, along the line of the present Corso Giovecca and Viale Cavour. The tower was joined by curtain walls to another three newly built for this project. Between the Este residence and the new fortress was built an aerial passageway (perhaps in wood) to allow people to flee from one to the other.

As the city grew the city walls were moved, so the defensive function of the castle became less important and apartments began to be built in its interior, which was by now considered an annex to the court palace. From the time of Ercole I d'Este on, there are many records of construction of apartments, and of their enlargement and enhancement. The definitive transformation works were ordered by Ercole II after a fire in 1544, which had damaged the previous accommodation. The architect Girolamo da Carpi gave the castle the external appearance which can be still seen today, although the interior has been remodelled several times across the ages. After the departure of the Este to Modena, the castle became the residence of the Papal Legate who administered the Ferrarese territory as civil governor (for a maximum term of four years). There were few changes made to the structure of the building, the most obvious being the increase in height of the north ravelin (the room which currently houses the cafeteria).

In 1860 Ferrara was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. The castle, now state-owned, was bought for 70,000 liras in 1874 by the Province of Ferrara that utilized the structure as headquarters of the Prefecture.

Over the years the Castle underwent many small restoration projects, especially between 1910 and 1930, when some very questionable attempts were done. During World War II the castle was heavy damaged by aerial bombing, so it was partially reconstructed in 1946.

In 1999 under the initiative of the provincial administration, it started "The Castle for the City" project, that scheduled a massive restoration of the castle. The itinerary of the restoration of the castle has gone through important steps to remember: the exhibition "The Triumph of Bacchus" inaugurated in 2002 by the President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and the art exposition "The Este in Ferrara" opened on 14 March 2004 by the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi. In 2006 the whole project of restoration of the Castle was concluded with two significant events: the completion of the touristic tour designed by Gae Aulenti and the restoration and opening of the Cabinets of Alfonso d'Este.

One of the towers was damaged in the 2012 Northern Italy earthquake.