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A Bible and heresy The Ariostea library keeps a treasure which caused discussions, all the more up-to-date when acquired. Thanks to the information provided by a noted book collector, Renzo Bonfiglioli, in 1959 the Municipality of Ferrara acquired a treasure of history and culture: the Biblia Latina annotated by Girolamo Savonarola, when a novice in Ferrara, between 1479 and 1482.
"Nebbia" by Andrea Veronese Love defeated by political fervour in Ferrara through the 1950 s. The novel Nebbia [Fog] by Andrea Veronese held me enthralled from its very first pages, encouraging me to have it published as part of the Corbo literature series. The book makes an impact right from the very first scenes, where the focus gradually narrows down onto the events that unfolded in Ferrara between 22 October and  8  December 1954, when
Dancing Ferrara dance venues, from debutante balls to Latin-American nights. In his book A question of stature. The story of a boy who grew too much, Gaetano Tumiati brings us back to a Ferrara of the thirties and forties, when young people met in exclusive places to dance the tango, waltz, mazurka, and the rumba.
Update on the Costabili collection The research on collecting never stops. This article will provide an update on the Costabili collection in view of new information that has emerged over the last 10 years on works that have often only been recently identified as forming part of the Costabili collection.
I was born in the F.lli Navarra Agricultural College Or: how I found my forgotten birthplace, during a professional visit I was born in Malborghetto di Boara (Municipality of Ferrara) on 26 December 1926, in the F.lli Navarra agricultural college. My father had taken over management of the college a few months previously, having transferred from the Fabriano agricultural college.

An indefatigable cameraman

Written by  Paolo Micalizzi

A tribute to Antonio Sturla, a prominent figure in the history of Ferrara cinema.Antonio Sturla in the 1920s.

Antonio Sturla was a key figure in the history of Ferrara cinema in his role as one of the most influential cameraman in the pioneering days of cinema. By the age of sixteen, he had already made his way to Rome to work for the famous Cines production company as second assistant cameraman. He probably went there having made contacts during production of the film Parisina. Un amore alla Corte di Ferrara nel XV secolo directed by Giuseppe De Liguoro in 1909 and perhaps also Lucrezia Borgia directed by Mario Caserini in 1910. Since he was an avid photography enthusiast, he was fascinated by the films made in Ferrara, and so contacted the people in charge of these films to establish Antonio Sturla in the 1920s.himself in the world of cinema. He came back from Rome in 1912 after a big fire at Cines. Antonio Sturla began his work as a cameraman thanks to the Venetian film director and producer Almerico Roatto, who owned various cinemas in Ferrara including the Edison. This is how the "final joke" of Chino Colussi in Sotto a chi tocca originated. Antonio Sturla was cameraman on the film Il baratro that year, which could be considered to be the first full length feature film produced in Ferrara and marking the beginning of Sturla as war journalist, on the italian-french border, in 1940.Antonio Sturla's career as a cameraman. He had been born in Ferrara on 22 July 1894 and died on 22 August 1968. His career enabled him to record the most significant events in his city up to when he left for the first world war, where he acted as war correspondent associated with the Supreme Command Cinematographic Service based in Nancy. He filmed important events during the war including Verdun, the battle of Adamello, recovery of the remains (and airplane) of FrancescAntonio Sturla during the aerial shots for “Ferrara epica e cortese” in 1926.o Baracca and his funeral service, and Gorizia. As special envoy of the Royal Geographical Society of Italy, he also travelled to India, Ceylon, and the slopes of the Himalaya, where he was granted a rare audience with the Dalai Lama in the Holy City. Sturla acted as the Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Tuscany correspondent for the Istituto Luce from 1927, thereby recording the important events of that period. He made a documentary on Ferrara called Ferrara epica e cortese Sturla, first right, with Damiano Damiani, filming “Omaggio a una città”.with Ugo Vasè in 1927, a homage to the artistic beauty of the city where shots from an airplane were shown for the first time. He was called up to the cinematographic section of the army in 1940 and sent to the Western Front. After the war he became current affairs correspondent for some trade journals including Settimana Incom, Mondo Libero, and Ciak. His work was praised by the young Michelangelo Antonioni who wrote an article in 1939 for the Corriere Padano saying that he was "an indefatigable Sturla with director Florestano Vancini, filming “Alluvione”cameraman, who had initiative and a surprising eagerness, continuously filming a huge variety of subjects and activities, to then take them out to use when necessary". These documents would be a wonderful resource to remember those years by. A documentary industry started up in Ferrara in 1949, hinging on the experience and technical capacity of Antonio Sturla. The documentary Amanti senza fortuna di Adolfo Baruffi and Florestano Vancini was the first of these documentaries. Florestano Two snapshots testifying Sturla’s passion for documentary movies:in Tripolitania, in 1927.Vancini was the director that Antonio Sturla worked with most, shooting Uomini della pianura (1950), Delta padano (1951), La città di Messer Ludovico (1951), Al Filò (1953), Tre canne un soldo (1954), and Via Romea (1958) with him. There were sixty documentaries made using his camerawork skills, due to Renzo Ragazzi, Fabio Pittorru, Renzo Renzi and Damiano Damiani among others. He even directed some of the documentaries in addition to acting as cameraman on them: two callings that were cenTwo snapshots testifying Sturla’s passion for documentary movies: in front of the Taj Mahal, in 1932-33.tral to his spirit. Florestano Vancini called him "Old Sturla" with affection and gratitude, as he had given him his start in the world of cinema. As he had done for others, including Carlo Rambaldi, honoured with three Oscars for King Kong, Alien and E.T.. Sturla himself had also won awards and even had a street named after him in Ferrara in 1994.