Ferrara - Itinerary Italia -
Lucrezia Borgia found herself in one of the first modern cities of the Renaissance, with a cultured and luxurious court.
The expansion of Christianity in the fourth century after the edict of Milan produced the proliferation of Benedictine monasteries, one of which was installed on the outskirts of the Po River. The popes were incorporating into their domains territories of the Carolingian empire, among which those of Ferrara were part.
The inability to control such vast spaces caused, from the fourteenth century, the split of Ferrara. The Este family, embodied in the figure of Alberto d’Este (1347 – 1393), took possession of the territory and began a policy of pacts with the kingdoms of France and Naples, which allowed it to maintain its hegemony.
Ercole I (1431 – 1505), married to Eleanor of Aragon, daughter of King Ferdinand I of Naples, agrees to the marriage of his son Alfonso with the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, Lucrezia, which offers him stability with the Holy See and with the southern borders.
The city, protected by a wall of more than nine kilometers and eleven bastions, had twelve access gates and was defended by powerful artillery. At the end of the 15th century, Duke Ercole ordered the circuit of old Ferrara to be tripled and the architect Biagio Rossetti designed this new space, known as the Herculean Addition, endowed with wide, straight streets, large squares and sumptuous buildings, surrounded by parks, orchards and gardens, being in full Renaissance the first modern city of Europe.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Court of Ferrara had a feudal and military character, since the Este lineage had been hardened in constant and multiple warfare. As wealth began to flow in, the population and the nobility became fond of splendor and luxury, with the unstoppable incorporation of arts and letters.
Women also played a predominant role, taking part in games, tournaments, hunts, dances and shows, tempering the militarized spirit of the men in the territory. With Eleanor of Aragon, Duchess of Ferrara (1450-1493), the interest in Spanish language and literature began to spread, which increased in the time of Lucrezia Borgia.
The entrance of Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara, on February 2, 1502, and her wedding with Alfonso de Este, caused a cataract of events and celebrations that made her soon forget the luxuries she had left behind in Rome. In 1505, after the death of Ercole I, her son Alfonso succeeded her and Lucrezia became Duchess of Ferrara.
His successors Ercole II and Alfonso II followed the general lines already established, but the splendor of the Este ended after the absence of legitimate successors and, in 1598, the Duchy of Ferrara returned to the hands of the Church.
