Ferrara

Alfonso’s interest in collecting antique artifacts and sculptures likely stemmed from Ferrara’s apparent lack of classical remains during the Renaissance, since possessing these items would have bolstered the classical identity the duchy lacked. However, unbeknownst to the Ferrarese at the time, the area now known as Ferrara was occupied by the Etruscan city of Spina during the classical era. Spina, which thrived as a port city from the sixth to the third century B.C, had close ties with Greece and imported many Athenian goods, such as large symposium vases and ornate jewelry.[19] Although Spina was an Etruscan city, its connection with Greece was so strong that the Greeks considered its people fellow Greek citizens, which in turn led to the Hellenization of the city.[20] Unfortunately, Spina was submerged in the Po Delta during the early Middle Ages and remained lost to history until its excavation in the early twentieth century.

The city, and from 1471, Duchy of Ferrara was a northern Italian regional capital located on the Po river.[21] Ruled by the Este family since the late twelfth century until the late sixteenth century, the city, and eventual Duchy, of Ferrara was a regional center for commerce and agriculture. The Este family first gained control of Ferrara in 1185 when Azzo I d’Este married the heiress of the family that had previously ruled the city, but it wasn’t until 1242 that Azzo Novella d’Este, with the help of the Venetians, establish continuous Estense rule.[22] Azzo Novello’s successor, Obizzo II d’Este, was granted Lordship of the vast land that surrounded the city of Ferrara by the papacy, which would remain the d’Este’s territory for centuries, and in 1471 Borso d’Este was granted the title of Duke of Ferrara by Pope Paul II.[23]

The Este family’s rule of Ferrara was marked by sweeping changes to the city in the form of improved infrastructure, major building projects, and land reclamation.[24] Between the reclaimed swampland, the development of new waterways, and the construction of a multitude of buildings, from palaces to estates to a university, Ferrara developed at an incredible rate. In 1492, Duke Ercole I took the city’s urban development to new heights by tripling the area of the city as part of his Addizione Erculea, or “Herculean Addition,” named in reference to the duke’s name, as well as the sheer scale of the project.[25] With the foundation of the University of Ferrara in 1391 coinciding with the rise of Petrarchan thought and humanism throughout Italy, Ferrara quickly became one of the early major centers of humanism within Italy. By the end of the fifteenth century, Ferrara was, according to Cecilia M. Ady “second only to Florence as a centre of humanistic studies.”[26]

Though the rule of the d’Este dukes is widely viewed positively in regard to their artistic patronage, dedication to public works, and successful governance, they were not without their critics. Edmund Gardner, author of one of the few comprehensive works on Ferrara, Dukes and Poets of Ferrara (1904), contrasts the d’Este dukes’ popular accomplishments with their lesser known failures, from oppressive tax laws to the “breakdown in law and order in the 1490’s.”[27] Antonio Piromalli, author of the La Cultura a Ferrara al Tempo dell’Ariosto, describes the d’Este dukes in a far more critical light, portraying them as maniacal despots bent on oppressing the lower classes and consolidating their own power even further. Despite these criticisms, the general consensus of scholars indicates that the quality of life in Ferrara was quite high under Estense rule, and the foundations laid by the Este dukes would be instrumental in the evolution of modern society.[28]