Ferrara

Costabili Palace, known as Palace of Ludovico il Moro (Palazzo Costabili, detto di Ludovico il Moro)

Edited by

Maria Teresa Sambin

Houses and Palaces

Other denominations

Palazzo di Ludovico il Moro / Palazzo Costabili / Museo archeologico nazionale di Ferrara

Founders

Ercole I

D'Este's People

Ercole I

Artists / Humanists

Antonio di Gregorio da Milano, Benvenuto Tisi, Bernardino da Milano, Biagio Rossetti, Cesare Cesariano, Cristoforo di Ambrogio da Milano, Gabriele Frisoni da Mantova, Girolamo Bonaccioli

Description

Palazzo Costabili, now home to the National Archaeological Museum, is one of the finest buildings of the Ferrara Renaissance, but also one of the most enigmatic.

The building was founded by Antonio Costabili, noble ambassador of the Este family to the Sforza court, probably in 1496, when he received the promise of a loan from Ercole I “for his chaxa”. A tradition dating back to Marcantonio Guarini (1621), claims that it was commissioned by Ludovico il Moro, who, concerned about the arrival of Charles VIII in Italy, is said to have entrusted large sums to Antonio to build him a retreat in Ferrara. Archival papers do not support this hypothesis, but neither do they definitively deny it.

The attribution of the building, which is unfinished, passed over the years from Biagio Rossetti to Donato Bramante, to then returned to Rossetti, whose presence is confirmed, except for a brief interruption, by documentary evidence. Although the building marks a leap in scale compared to the contemporary residential architecture of Ferrara, and the forms deployed in it show a strong desire to modernise, the project is not compatible with the style that Bramante was developing in those years. Many of its features are instead comparable with Biagio’s style and the building is an extraordinary confirmation of his ingenious eclecticism.

Useful information

Address

via XX settembre, 122

Municipality

FERRARA

Province

Ferrara

Other addresses

angolo via Porta d'Amore, 13a-19

Visitability of the place

Open to visits

Themes

Shows (carnival, theatre, music, dance,...) Wine Production (wine company)

Website

http://www.archeoferrara.beniculturali.it/

Tourer

https://www.tourer.it/mappa?id=1091

Included in the itineraries