FERRARA, a city and archiepiscopal see of Emilia, Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara, 3o m. N.N.E. of Bologna, situated 3o ft. above sea-level on the Po di Vomano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po, which is 31 m. N. Pop. (town), 115,883 (commune). The town has broad streets and numerous palaces, which date from the i6th century, when it was the seat of the court of the house of Este, and had, it is said, 1 oo,000 inhabitants.
The most prominent building is the square castle of the house of Este, in the centre of the town, a brick building surrounded by a moat, with four towers. It was built after 1385 and partly restored in the pavilions on the top of the towers date from the latter year. Near it is the hospital of S. Anna, where Tasso was confined during his attack of insanity (15 . The Palazzo del Municipio, rebuilt in the 18th century, was the earlier residence of the Este family. Close by is the cathedral of S. Giorgio, consecrated in 1135, when the Romanesque lower part of the main façade and the side façades were completed. It was built by Guglielmo degli Adelardi (d. 1146), who is buried in it. The upper part of the main façade, with arcades of pointed arches, dates from the lath century, and the portal has recum bent lines and elaborate sculptures above. The interior was restored in the baroque style in 1712-18. The campanile, in the Renaissance style, dates from Opposite the cathedral is the Gothic Palazzo della Ragione, in brick (1315-13 26), now the law-courts. A little way off is the free university. It has faculties of law, medicine and natural science (with 204 students in all) ; the library has valuable MSS., including part of that of the Orlando Furioso and letters by Tasso. Of the other churches S. Francesco, S. Benedetto, and S. Maria in Vado are all good early Renaissance buildings. The numerous early Renaissance palaces, often with good terra-cotta decorations, form quite a feature of Ferrara; few towns of Italy have so many of them though they are mostly comparatively small in size. Among them may be noted those in the N. quarter (especially the four at the inter section of its two main streets), which was added by the duke, Ercole I. in 1492-1505, from the plans of Biagio Rossetti. The finest of these is the Palazzo de' Diamanti, so called from the diamond points into which the blocks of stone with which it is faced are cut. It contains the municipal picture gallery, with a large number of pictures of artists of the school of Ferrara. To the later 15th century are due famous frescoes in the Palazzo Schifanoia, built by the Este family. The simple house of Ariosto, in which he died in 1532, lies farther west. The best i6th cen tury masters of the Ferrara school were Lorenzo Costa (1460 and Dosso Dossi (1479-1542), the most eminent of all.
The origin of Ferrara is uncertain, and probabilities are against the supposition that it occupies the site of the ancient Forum Alieni. It was probably a settlement formed by the inhabitants of the lagoons at the mouth of the Po. It appears first in a docu ment of Aistulf of 753 or 754 as a city in the exarchate of Ravenna. After 984 we find it a fief of Tedaldo, count of Modena and Canossa, nephew of the emperor Otho I. It after wards made itself independent, and in no' was taken by siege by the countess Matilda. At this time it was mainly dominated by several great families, among them the Adelardi.
In 1146 the property of Guglielmo Adelardi passed, as the dowry of his niece Marchesella, to Azzolino d'Este. After con siderable struggles Azzo Novello was nominated perpetual podesta in 1242; in 1259 he took Etzelino of Verona prisoner in battle. His grandson, Obizzo II. (1264-1293), succeeded him, and the pope nominated him captain-general and defender of the states of the Church; and the house of Este was from henceforth settled in Ferrara. Borso received the fiefs of Modena and Reggio from the emperor Frederick III. as first duke in 1452 (in which year Girolamo Savonarola was born here), and in 147o was made duke of Ferrara by Pope Paul II. Ercole I. (14 71-1505) and his son Alfonso I. (m. Lucrezia Borgia) carried on war with Venice. In 1509 he was excommunicated by Julius II., and attacked the pontifical army in 1512 outside Ravenna, which he took. Gaston de Foix (q.v.) fell in the battle. With the succeeding popes Alfonso was able to make peace. He was the patron of Ariosto from 1518 onwards. His son Ercole II. (duke, married Renata, daughter of Louis XII. of France. His son Alfonso II. married Barbara, sister of the emperor Maximilian II. He raised the glory of Ferrara to its highest point, and was the patron of Tasso and Guarini, favouring, as the princes of his house had always done, the arts and sciences. For its majolica see CERAMICS. He had no legitimate male heir, and in Ferrara was claimed as a vacant fief by Pope Clement VIII. The town remained a part of the states of the Church, the fortress being occupied by an Austrian garrison from 1832 until when it became part of the kingdom of Italy.
A considerable area within the walls of Ferrara is unoccupied by buildings, especially on the north, where the handsome Renaissance church of S. Cristoforo, with the cemetery, stands; but modern times have brought a renewal of industrial activity. Knitted goods and shawls are made. Ferrara is on the main line from Bologna to Padua and Venice, and has branches to Ravenna, Poggio Rusco (for Suzzara), Cento and Comacchio. At Pontela goscuro, which is within the commune of Ferrara, is a railway bridge over the Po and a large soap and candle factory.
See G. Agnelli, Ferrara e Pomposa (Bergamo, 19o2) ; E. G. Gardner, Dukes and Poets of Ferrara (London, igo4) ; K. Chledowski, Der Hof von Ferrara (0919), Arti Grafiche.