Gate of the Angels (Porta degli Angeli)

The 16th-century Porta degli Angeli, located halfway along the curtain wall between the Torrione del Barco and the Torrione della Punta della Montagnola, was the only open access point along the northern side of Ferrara’s walls. As well as constituting a fundamentally important filter for controlling the flow of people and goods entering the city, the structure was also one of the most representative architectures of the inner walled perimeter as it was the setting for the entrances of ambassadors, princes and other illustrious personages arriving in Ferrara from the north.

According to a deep-rooted historical tradition, Cesare d’Este, after having ceded the dominion of Ferrara to Clemente VIII (1598), supposedly left the city by passing through this very gateway, which was walled up in the hope that the prince would never return. Today, as a result of documentary and archaeological investigations, it seems that in reality the last Duke of Ferrara had left the city by passing through the Porta di San Benedetto rather than through the Porta degli Angeli, which only ended up losing its function completely at the end of the 17th century.