Foreword

Written by  Alfredo Santini
This number of Ferrara. Voci di una città contains a series of articles that propose an image of the city linked to its most illustrious families - as is the case with the article by Gaetano Tumiati - as well as one connected with the rediscovery of its most evocative and secret corners - as is the case with James Rosen's piece. Along with these two contributions we have Sergio Romano's commemoration of count Vittorio Cini, the enlightened art patron and esteemed citizen of Ferrara, and Baruffaldi's piece on father Giacomo Cassani.

 

We should also mention Francesco Ceccarelli's important essay on architectural history and the pleasaunce at Mesola, one of the best known, but most sadly neglected places of our glorious past. We have also covered this year's major art event: the Dosso Dossi exhibition, of which the Fondazione is one of the natural sponsors. This event is a fitting commemoration of one of the most complex and brilliant figures from the world of Renaissance painting in Ferrara whose works will be further studied during the forthcoming conference on the reign of Alfonso I and the art of Dosso organized by the Istituto di Studi Rinascimentali in Ferrara and due to be held from 9 to 12 December in the palazzina Marfisa.

Francesco Arcangeli's article, with a brief introduction by Andrea Emiliani, is a wonderfully written critique of the power and beauty of Bastianino's Last Judgement in the apse of the Cathedral: one of the fundamental works of Ferrarese painting, which the Fondazione is planning to restore for the 2000 Jubilee celebrations as a fitting symbol of its presence in the cultural as well as the economic sphere.

As 1998 draws to a close the magazine is therefore offering an issue with a wealth of stimulating material and we thought it might be useful, as well as proper, to recall the 160th anniversary of the Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara, a celebration honoured by the presence of the Head of State, and one that demonstrated the vitality and the historic importance of the bank, which is now an integral and integrating part of our city as well as the driving force behind the local economy and of that culture of the memory which is fundamental for the construction of the future city.