At first sight, this issue of Ferrara. Voci di una città might appear like a motley collection of cultural issues concerning the city and the province; in reality however the articles are linked by a common theme that attempts to harmonize culture and economics, history and current affairs, art and literature.

The tapestries of the Museo del Duomo in Ferrara. The project on the part of the Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara to finance the restoration of the eight tapestries depicting scenes frorn the Lives of Saints George and Maurelius belonging to the Museum of the Cathedral of Ferrara represents one of the most meritorious schemes undertaken by a foundation that for many years now has…

Political upheavals affecting Ferrara in the Napoleonic era. In June 1796 the French occupied Ferrara and assumed all powers in the name of the French Republic. The Magistrato dei Savi was substituted by the Municipal government thus marking the definitive end of Papal government. Four months later Ferrara became a part of the Cispadane Confederation and in the May of 1797, of the Cisalpine Republic.…

A personality (and a marble tablet) at the roots of the Ferrarese Jewish community. Towards the end of the Sixteenth century in via Sabbioni, in the heart of Ferrara, there lived an interesting personality - (Mes)ser Mele da Roma. He was the man behind a far-sighted initiative, promoted with a view to providing Ferrara's Jews with a permanent place in which to conduct their religious…

An exhibition and a catalogue devoted to Giovanni Boldini. Sixty-two years have gone by since Cesare Brandi set up, in the Benvenuto Tisi da Garofalo Hall of the Palazzo dei Diamanti, the original nucleus of the Museo Giovanni Boldini, thus adopting the museological criterion that Giuseppe Agnelli had suggested to the Fascist governor of Ferrara, Renzo Ravenna, as early as 1931. Forty years later, the…

Ferrara's economic growth and European Union structural funds. In 1997 Ferrara was listed as an area of industrial decline, i.e., it was included in the areas covered by the EU's so-called Objective 2 and as such is an area into which public funds may be channelled in support of industry. In terms of incomes, unemployment, infrastructures, and services for people and business, Europe is still…

Mario Soldati, writer, film maker, journalist and - above all - the discoverer and champion of salama da sugo, is ninety years old. The meritorious act: having told the rest of Italy about Ferrara through what is only apparently a minor symbol. In order to do this, to make sure that the operation was not labelled "commercial" or "cheap" he needed two things, both of…

A treasure of the arts fallen into oblivion.Many are the monuments that make Ferrara a fascinating place. One of these, but not the best known, is the Oratorio di Santa Maria Annunziata, in via Borgo di Sotto. Until the Napoleonic repression it used to house the Confraternita della Buona Morte (Confraternity of the Good Death), whose task it was to comfort the condemned. «This place…

A great photographer's view of Ferrara (with a note by Paolo Ravenna). While the encounter with Paolo Monti in the corridors of the Garzanti publishing house was almost by chance, we nevertheless ought to confess that he was already well known for his often extraordinary knowledge of the secret relationship governing the bonds between places and their history. Professionally speaking, Monti's time in Venice had…

Fifty years of history and change in Ferrara. The economic development of the Italian provinces and employment levels have depended over the last 40 years on the dynamics of industrial added value. While industry, especial the small-scale, innovational sector, has been the driving force behind growth, in future the prerequisite for growth will be "know-how" (while environmental decay will become the biggest threat to society).…

An outstanding collection of architectural drawings. (With a note by Adriano Cavicchi) The architect Giovan Battista Aleotti (Argenta 1546 - Ferrara 1636) was one of the most outstanding figures in the cultural life of Ferrara between the 16th and 17th centuries. The importance of his patrons, who included the Estes, the Gonzagas, and the Papal State, together with the enormous body of work he produced,…

An exhibition to celebrate Tasso's theory of style. The restoration carried out by Ottorino Nonfarmale of Titian's Ascension in the Church of San Salvatore in Venice is to mark the occasion of a refined exhibition that will bring together the work of a series of painters who from that painting, but especially from Tasso's theory of style, brought about a profound revolution regarding the concept…

The wife of Duke Ercole I was not a secondary figure in the history of Fifteenth century Ferrara. Virtue doesn't make news and very rarely makes history. The average reader prefers to give his curiosity free rein to explore the toils of passions, vices, and human eccentricities rather than the various expressions of an industrious and austere life. It is no accident that in the…

«O deserted beauty of Ferrara / I will praise you as one praises the countenance / of she who bends over our heart / yearning to be free of joys past» It is surprising that in this day and age, in which the world's cities are tormented - among many things - by acoustic pollution, Ferrara is still one of the few places that deserve…

In the visionary fantasy of a poet, Ferrara may even be located in the middle of the mountains.One evening a few years ago I nearly fell out of my armchair as I was reading a lyric by Osip Mandelstam, the great Russian poet who died in one of Stalin's camps; his words were: «O miserly Ferrara, why not give the world a poet like Ariosto…

A portrait of the craftsmen and structures devoted to the restoration of artworks in Ferrara. At the end of via Machiavelli, a little glass door and a nameplate mark the premises reserved for the course in the preservation and restoration of modern works of art. Inside, a large room, lots of desks, easels holding paintings - most of which are relatively new -, brushes, pots…

Interventi, progetti e finanziamenti per la crescita del territorio, nelle parole del presidente della Fondazione ai soci.   In due recenti occasioni assembleali, il presidente della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara, Silvio Carletti, ha chiarito ai soci alcune tematiche legate alla gestione e al futuro della Fondazione. Riportiamo qui di seguito i tratti salienti dei suoi interventi.«Nel concludere il dibattito, in occasione dell'Assemblea del…

Il salone internazionale del restauro richiama a Ferrara il mondo delle Fondazioni e delle Casse di Risparmio. I primi interventi delle Casse di Risparmio nei confronti della conservazione e valorizzazione del patrimonio artistico datano fin dalla fine del secolo scorso. Oggi, ad alcuni anni dalla nascita delle Fondazioni, che hanno affiancato e sostituito le Casse di Risparmio e le Banche del Monte nella loro benemerita…

Un'annata tutta in positivo per la Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara. Il mondo bancario italiano sta attraversando un periodo di grande fermento. La rapida discesa dei tassi di interesse nel 1996 ha influenzato in misura importante il margine della gestione del denaro, che in molte banche ha presentato crescita zero, se non addirittura negativa.Nel frattempo è aperto un intenso dibattito sulla rigidità dei costi -…

Giunto a Ferrara, avevo bisogno di riposarmi; presi alloggio alla locanda di San Marco, dove c'era la posta dei cavalli; mentre pranzavo da solo in camera mia ecco che viene il mio giocatore a farmi visita e a propormi la rivincita: io rifiuto, mi prende in giro, tira fuori dalla tasca un mazzo di carte e una manciata di zecchini e mi propone una partita…

Ferrara. Voci di una cittàRivista semestrale di cultura, informazione e attualitàAnno 4, numero 6 - Giugno 1997Registrata presso il Tribunale di Ferrara il 9 novembre 1994 con il numero 13/94Spedizione in abbonamento postale c. 27, art. 2, l. 549/95Edizione fuori commercio, riservata ai soci e agli amici della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara