Ferrara in October - Day 1

 Sunday in Ferrara.

It's darker in the morning now we are further north but we get up early anyway and park in the Centro Storico car park which is free on Sundays. It's a short walk into the centre of Ferrara which is still quiet. 

In the square beside the cathedral there are some food stalls, so obviously we have a look at those. We also decide to keep an eye on them because there is talk of free tastings at 10 o’clock. In the meantime we head for the cathedral, which is a disappointment because restoration work is being carried out. In this case, they’ve decided to close the whole building for renovation instead of dong a little at a time. I think it’ll be closed for a long long time. There’s an exhibition about the restoration work which we snub. 

By now it’s past half past nine so we go to the Museum of the cathedral just across the square  where we buy the Ferrara card which grants access to most things for three days for 22 euros. The two day option is 20 euros, but we are slow so we’ve planned three full days in Ferrara. The visit to the museum itself is quite quick. A room on the first floor and another on the ground floor across the cloister where the stone carvings are where I linger most.

Back in the square, the free tastings have started and I get a generous slice of ‘torta di riso’ and Andrea ‘tenerino al cioccolato’. A bit too cold to be totally enjoyable but interesting to try. Ferrara is now busy on this mild October Sunday morning. There’s a farmers’ market in another square so we buy some organic plums. How I miss Puglia! And in another square near the castle there are some handicraft stalls so the rest of the morning is taken up with strolling and looking. We stop at the supermarket for a little shopping and buy some cappellacci alla zucca, typical of Ferrara and a ragù sauce for lunch in our apartment and then have a rest and when we return to Ferrara we park in the Parcheggio Diamanti, a few minutes walk from Palazzo Diamanti where there’s the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara. 

Luckily the cafè is open and provides coffee because the induction hob in our apartment can’t. Many of Ferrara’s great works ended up in the most famous museums around the world but there’s enough to make an enjoyable hour and a half. We especially like the works by the Garofalo and the Ortolano as well as these,

INCORONAZIONE DELLA VERGINE CA. 1390 - CA. 1397 Simone di Filippo Benvenuti detto Simone dei Crocifissi, Bologna, 1330 ca. – 1399

an unusual Trinità:

https://gallerie-estensi.beniculturali.it/opere/collezioni/#/dettaglio/818403_Trinit%C3%A0

and a Madonna con Bambino similar to one we saw in Perugia: https://gallerie-estensi.beniculturali.it/opere/collezioni/#/dettaglio/818354_Madonna%20col%20Bambino

By the time we come out our attention is flagging so we walk along Corso Ercole I d’Este, full of old palazzi, as far as the castle, back around the square and the centre back towards Palazzo Diamanti, through Parco Massari and then finally call it a day and go home.