The walls of Ferrara by bike
Nine kilometres of walls
Ferrara is known as the "city of bicycles": its flat streets, its historic centre largely closed to traffic and its inhabitants of all ages pedalling everywhere make it one of the most bike-friendly cities in Italy. The most beautiful ride is along its walls, about 9 kilometres of ramparts that surround the historic centre almost entirely, among the best preserved and longest Renaissance walls in Italy. They were built between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries by the Este, partly to a design by Biagio Rossetti, the architect of the Addizione Erculea, and later strengthened with bastions by the papacy, which ruled the city from 1598.
Today the top of the walls is a long, green park, with a tree-lined path for walking, running and cycling, which offers views over the roofs and bell towers of the city on one side and the countryside on the other. Along the way, you pass bastions, gates such as the Porta degli Angeli, from which the Este left the city, and the Baluardo dell'Amore; the most evocative stretch is the northern one, along the old moat, with the meadows below. Near the walls, the Jewish Cemetery, with the grave of the writer Giorgio Bassani, author of "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis", set in Ferrara, and the Renaissance Certosa, a monumental cemetery, are worth a stop. Many hotels lend bikes to their guests, and there are many rental shops near the station and the centre.
Tip: the complete tour of the walls takes about an hour by bike; go at sunset, when the light is warm on the brick.
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