Ferrara

Schifanoia Palace (Palazzo Schifanoia)

Edited by

Maria Teresa Sambin

Houses and Palaces

Other denominations

Palazzo Schifanoia/Delizia di Schifanoia

Founders

Alberto V, Borso, Sigismondo d'Este

D'Este's People

Sigismondo d'Este

Artists / Humanists

Ambrogio da Milano, Antonio di Gregorio da Milano, Biagio Rossetti, Bongiovanni Gabrieli, Domenico di Paris, Ercole de Roberti, Francesco del Cossa, Pietro di Benvenuto dagli Ordini, Tito Livio

Description

Palazzo Schifanoia was founded at the end of the 14th century by Alberto V d’Este for recreational purposes. The marquis chose to build it in the western part of ​​the city, very close to the walls, which was not yet fully urbanised and was suitable for urban residences with large gardens: the primitive typology of the palace, a sequence of rooms and their guards on one floor overlooking a loggia, was perfectly suited to this purpose. It was Borso d’Este who elevated the building to the rank of official seat of the ruling class, raising it and equipping it with an external staircase on the side facing the garden and, above a new loggia, the great hall decorated with the cycle of the Months from a team of painters which included Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de Roberti. The building campaign, which lasted from 1466 to 1471, was directed by the ducal engineer Pietro degli Ordini; Biagio Rossetti was employed as a bricklayer, documented for the first time on a construction site.

The closed two-storey complex that characterises the building today is the result of centuries of renovations, expansions and demolitions. The 14th- to 15th-century configuration has been altered above all by the filling in of the ancient loggias and by the demolition of the staircase

Useful information

Address

via Scandiana, 19-27

Municipality

FERRARA

Province

Ferrara

Visitability of the place

Visitable only externally

Themes

Delizia

Website

https://www.ferraraterraeacqua.it/it/ferrara/scopri-il-territorio/arte-e-cultura/ville-dimore-teatri-storici/palazzo-schifanoia

Tourer

https://www.tourer.it/mappa?id=1146

Included in the itineraries