The great exhibitions
At the crossroads of the two main streets of the Addizione Erculea, the Renaissance expansion of Ferrara, stands one of the most famous palaces of the Italian Renaissance: the Palazzo dei Diamanti, designed by Biagio Rossetti from 1493 for Sigismondo d'Este, brother of Duke Ercole I. It takes its name from its extraordinary façade, covered with about 8,500 blocks of white marble carved in the shape of pointed diamonds, one of the emblems of the Este family, which create an ever-changing play of light and shadow depending on the time of day and the angle of view. The richly carved corner pilaster, at the crossroads, was designed to be admired from a distance, along the perspective of the two streets.
The piano nobile of the palace houses the Pinacoteca Nazionale, with a rich collection of paintings of the Ferrarese school, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, with works by Cosmè Tura, Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de' Roberti, Dosso Dossi, Garofalo and Scarsellino, which tell the story of an original and refined school of painting born at the Este court. The ground floor, renovated and expanded with a modern pavilion in the garden, is one of the most important exhibition venues in Italy: since the 1990s, Ferrara Arte has organised major art exhibitions there, dedicated to great masters from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, from the Impressionists to De Chirico, who spent some time in Ferrara and painted his first "metaphysical" works there.
Tip: check the programme of exhibitions on the website of Ferrara Arte and book in advance for the most popular ones.
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