Situation
Ferrara, capital of the province of the same name, lies 5km/3mi south of the River Po in the fertile north Italian plain. The distance from Ferrara to the Adriatic coast is about 50km/31mi.
Ferrara, see of an archbishop, and with a small
university, was once the splendid capital of the dukes of Este and an important trading center. Its wide streets, forbidding castle and sumptuous Renaissance palaces still bear witness to the great days of its past.
History
The town first appears in the records at the time of the Great Migration. In 1332 it fell into the hands of the Este family, one of the oldest noble houses in Italy (961-1598), which reached its period of greatest splendor in the 16th century Ariosto (1474-1533), the greatest Italian poet of the day, and the poet Torquato Tasso (1544-95) lived at the brilliant Renaissance court. Girolamo Savonarola was born in Ferrara in 1452. In 1598 the town was incorporated in the Papal State and in 1860 it was united with the Kingdom of Italy.
The flea market, Piazza Travaglio, opens every Monday.
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