Sicily - late March

Emilia-Romagna - early April

Ferrara Intro

Apartment

Museums 1

Rossetti

Eating!

Ravenna Hills 1

Ravenna Hills 2

Faenza

Tuscany, Florence - April 8

Umbria - late April

Castello Estense and the Duomo

Ferrara. provided many marvelous art and architectural experiences. For example, unlike many other areas in Italy, the Duomo here, started in the 12th century (consecrated in 1135) and finished in the 15th, has not been pulled apart by subsequent rulers and re-built to their liking. The facade remains aggressively, simply, Romanesque in its base, and delicately Gothic in its upper reaches. (Here's a very nice photo of the Duomo from the web.) There is a Renaissance bell tower, the interior is filled with beautiful sculptures and pictorial decoration from the 13th century on. The marble work is, of course, exquisite. As are the lions* and gryphons guarding the entrance. And/or preparing to eat those not properly penitent, it's hard to tell. Christianity took a bit of a deviation from the gentle teachings of Jesus in the Middle Ages. This gryphon appears to have trampled over a horse, probably bad luck for the rider.

More interesting (but certainly not more beautiful) than the Duomo to me, partly because the art covers broader themes than just religious, is the Castello Estense--the castle of the Este family. This structure is the dominant building of the community, originally built in 1385 as a fortress for the family in response to a festering revolt by those pesky peasants. The four towers, moat and drawbridge are still imposing. Like most of the castles and palaces one can visit in Italy today, the furniture is long-gone, but you can tour the magnificent rooms with their painted and carved ceilings and wall frescoes (unfortunately often plastered over by subsequent residents, making restoration a pain), the formal galleries, ballrooms, private chambers and sometimes kitchens and dungeons. And with a little imagination, form a good image of the life of the proud Este clan. (In several of these palaces, castles or government buildings, a huge mirror--several yards to a side sometimes-- had been set up placed at the correct angle to view the ceiling decoration. This photo was taken in such a mirror. I'm not certain it was at Castello Estense; in one of their buildings though.)

Especially evocative of castle life was a lingering break we took from castle-touring on the marble terrace adorned with large vases full of citrus plants and smaller boxes of flowers--the Garden of Oranges. We strolled about, gazing down at the peasants and enjoying the sweet smell of the orange blossoms until even that activity paled. Then back into the castle. But we weren't cooped up in it either. I suppose they needed all the decoration for entertainment while waiting for the peasants to get tired of rebelling.

The castle has about 50 rooms, we didn't go into all of them. There are offices in some, in fact the Tourist Office is here. While we were there, there was a special showing of works by a famous 16th century artist, Benvenuo Tisi Detto, known popularly as "il Garofalo." (No, I don't know what it means, but my guess is, it identifies a village or a coutry home or some other geographical locator.) We saw them unloading the crates before the show was set up and asked what the exhibit would be. And of course, when they answered "Il Garofalo," we had no idea who it was. But he was born in the area and is apparently ranked just under the top tier of Renaissance painters.

A large proportion of the paintings in this exhibit were of Madonna and Child, but with an interesting variation in style--early baby Jesus figures are somewhat pinheaded and not very attractive, later they become the chubby, cute babies one associates with Titian and other Renaissance artists. I never read an explanation for the style shift, which was not limited to Garofalo, just that it existed. (The Internet is no help in this kind of search. Do NOT put "pinhead baby Jesus" in Google and expect a reasonable response. And I couldn't find a photo of a painting to show you either. If there is an art historian among us, maybe they'll let us know. Again, I'm willing to guess. Probably when Leonardo Da Vinci's approach to realistic anatomy finally made its way around the empire, artists shifted to his style of portraying people.)

We also were struck by Garofalo's approach to the background of the portraits--elaborate and realistic scenes of cattle-grazing, far-away villages, mountain passes--a five or 10-miles deep background showing in a window behind the blessed mother and child or behind the wall they're sitting in front of. This technique begins to appear a lot at this time in religious art, foreshadowing, in my mind, the Hudson School of naturalistic scenery.

Three other things, among the many glories of Ferrara, seized our imaginations--the defensive wall, the palace Diamante and the Schifanoia museum. Something about them next.

* Lions were an important part of the Roman Empire, representing the reach and strength of the empire, and were popularized again by Frederick II, who ruled from 1220 to 1250 and is often credited with launching the "first Renaissance" in Italy. Carved lions are everywhere in Italy and I took quite a few pictures. I will make a little slide show of them as soon as I learn how. I'll let you know when it's done.