Ducal Barco, now Bassani Park (Barco ducale, ora parco Bassani)

In 1451, shortly after he had ascended the throne, Borso d’Este started work – at the suburban villa of Belfiore – on a barco (an enclosed park, reserved for hunting by the lord). At the time, it coincided with the braglia (vineyard), which constituted a mixed-use area of ​​about eight hectares. It was Borso himself who started, towards the end of his reign, an expansion project for the ducal park. It seems that only his death, in 1471, prevented him from proceeding with the work. It was his successor Ercole I who actually created the new barco, in the years 1471-72: a space populated by animals, surrounded by high walls with four entrances on the four cardinal points, accessible by drawbridges, the main one being at the entrance to Via degli Angeli. Between 1475 and 1476, Sperandio da Mantova painted two portraits of Ercole to be hung at this entrance. Despite the lavish care, the duke decided on a second expansion, which led to the creation of a huge hunting reserve north of the Belfiore palace. In 1483, during the Salt War, the Venetians arrived at the city walls, sacking the barco and setting fire to the Belfiore palace. As early as 1484, Ercole proceeded with the restoration of the villa; then he further enlarged the barco, putting the surrounding walls to work. In 1491, a sudden change in the programme led to the demolition of 6.5 kilometres of the newly built curtain wall.

In 1492, as a consequence of the expansion of the city, the barco was divided into two sectors: the large barco outside the urban curtain and the urban Barchetto, adjacent to the Belfiore villa, which was profoundly transformed. The large area of ​​the barco also served as a pomerium, an open space, and therefore easily inspectable, which did not allow the enemy to approach without being sighted.

With the devolution of Ferrara to the Holy See, both the green spaces and the villa, which remained the property of the Este family, were left in a state of neglect, leading to their deterioration. The lands later belonged to the wealthy Pio and Bentivoglio families. Today, the Bassani public park occupies an area that roughly corresponds to that of the barco.