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Florestano Vancini : a memoir Hit by a thunderbolt that determined a career and style of life. “In my day, it made a difference whether you were born and raised inside or outside the walls. Ferrara seemed to be a fortified place compared to that limitless countryside, poor and hard-working, and my father was only the Boara postman….” Florestano Vancini, who died on 18 September 2008 last, was physically born inside the walls, on 24 August 1926 in the hospital. However he was raised in Boara, the first village on the road to Copparo, and not “inside” the walled city.
Boldini in Paris The relationship between Boldini and French Impressionism will be explored in this great exhibition. Boldini painted a fascinating picture called Cantante mondana [“Society singer”] in the mid-1880s. It shows a snapshot of the Paris of the late nineteen-hundreds - the life, the cafés and the music halls that the artist patronised along with his friends and fellow-painters like Degas - and as such lay outside the area for which he was renowned, namely portrait painting.
It's all in the blood Impromptu thoughts of a "Dolomite-Po Valley man" My mother was tall and slim, with a consciously understated beauty; on the contrary, my athletic father was well aware of his good looks, tanned by the Cortina sun. She was from a good Ferrara family, had a diploma from the music conservatory and was anything but sporty; he was a ski and ice-hockey champion and mountain climber, from a modest family who were photography pioneers in this remote corner of Italy.
Story of a insolvent bank Luigi Franceschini and the "Piccolo Credito" bank, as remembered by his son. This is a nice “vintage” photograph taken at the San Girolamo Piazza eighty years ago.  It is a  souvenir photo with a certain historical interest: the  three people on  the right were very important characters in the story of  the insolvency of a Ferrara  bank, the  “ Piccolo   Credito ” : my  father,  the lawyer   Luigi   Franceschini,  who  was  the  receiver  appointed  by   the  Court   of   Ferrara ;   to  his  right,
Mystery and blades of grass in Filippo De Pisis The re-emergence of the herbarium collected by the Ferrara painter as a young man. The artistic sensibility of many leading cultural figures was cultivated by collecting grasses, herbs and flowers stalks, to then smoothen them out and press them between sheets of blotting paper:Obviously the great naturalists were enthusiasts, but world-famous thinkers also shared this hobby (Rousseau,Goethe,von Chamisso and Hesse), as well as poets,
This issue of Ferrara-Voci di una città presents a series of contributions on various items of interest to the area. The articles put the spotlight on times past, with some pieces obviously devoted to Ferrara’s renaissance glory, but others deal with the more recent history of Ferrara and its surroundings. They open with Vittorio Emiliani’s timely and moving tribute to the great director, Florestano Vancini,…
Hit by a thunderbolt that determined a career and style of life. “In my day, it made a difference whether you were born and raised inside or outside the walls. Ferrara seemed to be a fortified place compared to that limitless countryside, poor and hard-working, and my father was only the Boara postman….” Florestano Vancini, who died on 18 September 2008 last, was physically born…
The relationship between Boldini and French Impressionism will be explored in this great exhibition. Boldini painted a fascinating picture called Cantante mondana [“Society singer”] in the mid-1880s. It shows a snapshot of the Paris of the late nineteen-hundreds - the life, the cafés and the music halls that the artist patronised along with his friends and fellow-painters like Degas - and as such lay outside…
Impromptu thoughts of a "Dolomite-Po Valley man" My mother was tall and slim, with a consciously understated beauty; on the contrary, my athletic father was well aware of his good looks, tanned by the Cortina sun. She was from a good Ferrara family, had a diploma from the music conservatory and was anything but sporty; he was a ski and ice-hockey champion and mountain climber,…
Luigi Franceschini and the "Piccolo Credito" bank, as remembered by his son. This is a nice “vintage” photograph taken at the San Girolamo Piazza eighty years ago.  It is a  souvenir photo with a certain historical interest: the  three people on  the right were very important characters in the story of  the insolvency of a Ferrara  bank, the  “ Piccolo   Credito ” : my  father, …
The re-emergence of the herbarium collected by the Ferrara painter as a young man. The artistic sensibility of many leading cultural figures was cultivated by collecting grasses, herbs and flowers stalks, to then smoothen them out and press them between sheets of blotting paper:Obviously the great naturalists were enthusiasts, but world-famous thinkers also shared this hobby (Rousseau,Goethe,von Chamisso and Hesse), as well as poets,
Restoration of an important renaissance fresco by Garofalo. The frescoed ceiling in one of the ground floor rooms of Palazzo Costabili is at the cutting edge of Italian renaissance painting. The building was built on the orders of Count Antonio Costabili and is in Via XX settembre as it is now known. The charming idea of re-creating a raised balcony under the sky reflects its…
An abandoned industrial building becomes a refuge for water birds. The biggest “heron city” in Northern Italy was discovered almost by chance at the beginning of the eighties. The birds build their nests in these plants that grow around the former sugar-refinery tanks and along the Collettore Acque Alte road. This is an area of great naturalist and faunal value and lies at the back…
The energy of Provincial theatres makes up for the disappearance of certain public institutions. Having witnessed the disappearance of various theatres from Ferrara, the province managed to get its act together and re-open some old theatres over the last few years. Two examples of this can be found among the many theatres scattered over the province of Ferrara: the De Micheli Theatre of Copparo and…
The wedding banquet for Barbara of Austria and Alfonso II , Duke of Ferrara. Cristoforo da Messisbugo was an unsurpassed master in the art of court stewardship, and his book on the topic provides a valuable insight into the magnificence of noble feasts in renaissance times. Less well known, but no less important from a historical point of view, was the story written by Giacomo…
The story of the Centennial Calendar, through a set of newly found documents. Dusty wardrobes, yellowed paper, abandoned in a cellar or an attic. Neglected material, considered cumbersome, just about tolerated in the limited space available. Unfortunately, this is the idea that most people have of paper files. Therefore the “shout for help” by Saòlvatore Settis is revealing. Asked about the “current situation” on “cultural”…
An informal portrait of the respected and awe-inspiring “lunatics’ doctor” of Ferrara. For many years in Ferrara, if you sent a person “to Campailla” it just meant to send the person to the psychiatric hospital, or, more broadly, to send them to hell: let’s say it was an inoffensive, elegant way of questioning the sanity of the person you were talking to. Professor Giuseppe Campailla…
1 March 1896 - marking the end of the first phase of Italian colonialism. Unlike the defeat at Caporetto which was forgotten about after a few months, the defeat at Adwa - in the Tigray region of Ethiopia - on 1 March 1896, rankled for forty years. It rankled until Italian troops reclaimed it on 6 October 1935 during the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia. However,…
The Ferrara Office papers in the secret Modena archive of the House of Este. Funded by the Hermitage Italia Foundation, I am investigating the circumstances surrounding the collection of Antonio Lombardo’s reliefs for Alfonso I’s rooms in the Via Coperta (passage connecting the old ducal palace to the Este castle) and now kept at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. This involves the methodical consultation…
La presenza della Fondazione nel territorio si caratterizza per la costante attenzione a sanità, tutela delle categorie deboli e lotta alla povertà Alla fine del mese di maggio è stato approvato il bilancio consuntivo 2008 della Fondazione e da esso vogliamo partire per offrirvi una rapida carrellata su quanto nell’ultimo anno il nostro Ente ha sostenuto, non mancando di sottolineare alla vostra attenzione quelle che…
La Laurea Honoris Causa ad Alfredo Santini suggella la lunga collaborazione fra Facoltà di Economia e Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara La Facoltà di Economia da sempre è vicina al territorio. A tale scopo, inizialmente sotto la guida di Patrizio Bianchi e successivamente (dal 2004) sotto quella dello scrivente, in essa sono stati valorizzati e rafforzati quei saperi e quelle specialità dell’economia applicata che si…
Una Laurea Honoris Causa come segno del rapporto fra l’Università, la città e i suoi uomini illustri Le Lauree ad Honorem sono da sempre una festa collettiva che si rinnova di volta in volta e costituiscono anche un’occasione per ringraziare tutta la comunità. L’Università di Ferrara ha fatto una scelta di principio: ridurre il numero di lauree perché siamo convinti che esse debbano seguire due…
Economia, cultura, società nel ferrarese nell’ultimo cinquantennio: luci ed ombre, impulsi e freni. Magnifico Rettore, Autorità, Signore e Signori, Ezio Vanoni, nella presentazione del Suo piano economico al Senato il 14 febbraio 1956, si congedava con queste parole: "…crediamo di aver fatto il nostro dovere presentandoci davanti a voi con il nostro volto, con la somma delle opere compiute, con la somma degli errori e…
Il conferimento ad Alfredo Santini della Laurea Honoris Causa in Economia Aziendale Management e Professioni, tenutosi il 23 febbraio scorso, rappresenta un importante riconoscimento che l’Università di Ferrara ha voluto tributare ad un uomo che da sempre si dedica con passione, umanità e carisma alla crescita di Ferrara. Pubblicare in questa sede i testi di Patrizio Bianchi, Rettore dell’Ateneo, e di Giancarlo Pola, Preside della…
Ferrara - Voci di una città Rivista semestrale di cultura, informazione e attualità Anno 16, numero 30 - Giugno 2009 Registrata presso il Tribunale di Ferrara il 9 novembre 1994 con il numero 13/94. ISSN 1128-3572 Edizione fuori commercio, riservata ai soci e agli amici della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara   COMITATO EDITORIALE Francesca Bargellesi, Vittorio Emiliani, Giorgio Franceschini, Roberto Pazzi, Paolo Ravenna,…