What to do in Ferrara?

There are fantastic frescoes at the Palazzo Schifanoia. So many interesting scenes of life in the era, including horse racing.

I’ve been to Ferrara only very briefly, and would love to go back. Here’s their website - you might find it useful: https://www.ferrarainfo.com/en/home-page

If dealing with jetlag, then walking the ramparts gets you sunlight to help the cause.

I stayed two nights in Ferrara and enjoyed it. While we were there, there was some kind of festival going on at the castle, where everyone was in period costumes and there were reenactments and dancing, singing and musicians, parades, etc. Check to see what events are going on during your dates. Great town for just exploring the piazzas and streets. There was a big street market in the piazza next to the cathedral.

I had the use of a bicycle at my B&B, and enjoyed riding it around town and around the wall. I believe I stayed three days as well, but did day trips from there.

If you enjoy jazz, there is a very cool jazz venue in Ferrara. The only thing is that their shows seem limited to certain times of the year. Here is a link which I am sure includes their calendar: https://jazzclubferrara.com/

This discount card may interest you. Their tourist discount card. https://www.ferrarainfo.com/en/myfecard/what-is-myfe-card

Overall, I think Ferrara is just a great walking city - lots of great brick work, doorways, and facades.
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A visit to the Cimitero Monumentale is well worth the effort as is the walk.

https://www.certosadiferrara.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ferrara-Charterhouse-Map.pdf
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And the great thing about Ferrara, is that it's part of the Emilia-Romagna - so dig in!

https://www.travelemiliaromagna.it/en/what-to-eat-ferrara/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccahughes/2023/01/26/pumpkin-pasta-and-quirky-bread-why-food-lovers-in-italy-should-visit-ferrara/?sh=606fcbad4c43

Oh my goodness, thank you all so much for sharing your knowledge of Ferrara! I am amazed and grateful for such great information and ideas! I am excited about the frescos in the Palazzo Schifanoia, hiking to the Cimitero, visiting street markets, walking the walls (shooing away jetlag) and eating incredible food! Your logistical suggestions - getting a visitor's discount pass, and reading the city's website - are so helpful. I'll see if my busy days there will leave me enough energy to partake of jazz one evening, too. I had imagined possibly doing a day trip one of the three full days that I will be there, but it looks like there may well be enough in Ferrara to keep me fully immersed in that city's adventures, so I may forego venturing elsewhere. After Ferrara I travel on to Ravenna for a five-day mosaics course, ending with four nights in Venice, which I enjoy immensely. Thank you all, again, for your help!

Sounds like a wonderful itinerary. So great that you’re taking a mosaics class!

The post about the piazza in front of the cathedral reminded me that on our trip, they had a boxing ring set up there and there was a fight going on one night! We really enjoyed Ferrara.

From our Sept. 2022 trip report:

Ferrara – 2 nights: I wanted her (my daughter) to experience at least one less touristy location in northern Italy, so we went to Ferrara. We had a large room in the very nice Maxxim Hotel, near the Jewish ghetto. Their breakfast area has an indoor and garden area.
After a local piadina lunch at Farina del Mio Sacco, we walked out to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Ferrara which contains many interesting artifacts from the Etruscan city of Spina – 3rd Century BC. Since we also went to Ravenna, we ran out of time to rent bikes in Ferrara, but we enjoyed going through Castelle Estense – especially the dungeon, and we had our best meal of our trip in Ferrara! I just looked up the name of the restaurant – Trattoria da Noemi, and now my mouth is watering – wow!
Day-trip to Ravenna: We took the 8:27am train to arrive before 10am and be one of the first in the timed reservations for the gorgeous mosaics. Imagine gazing up at the spectacular mosaics in San Vitale, and this time it’s almost empty, quiet & peaceful! The rest were the normal level of activity. Even with a little sporadic rain, we thoroughly enjoyed our morning & early afternoon in Ravenna.

We recommend the pumpkin pasta entrees and definitely the tiramisu at that restaurant!

If you want local cuisine, go to Trattoria Da Noemi, very good and usually very busy, so book a table. Another good restaurant for local cuisine (run by the same family) is Il Mandolino, but they are open only for lunch now and reservations are not possible. Both restaurants have a website.

The Archaeological Museum currently has a special Etruscan exhibition. I'm not sure how long it runs. Quite a few items were off display at Villa Giulia in Rome today because they're in Ferrara.

Fortunately almost everything under restoration has been opened again in Ferrara, so there are several places to be visited.
At Palazzo dei Diamanti has been presented a new exhibition about Renaissance in Ferrara. https://www.palazzodiamanti.it/mostre/rinascimento-a-ferrara-ercole-de-roberti-e-lorenzo-costa/
South of the historical center there is the MEIS, the Italian Museum about Jewish culture. Now the exposition is dedicated to the ghettos period (XVI-XIX centuries), but there are pieces even of the former Jewish Italian culture. https://meis.museum/
If you have the chance to do some trips outside the city (mostly by car) there are some interesting places:
- Comacchio and the lagoon;
- Po delta park;
- "Delizie estensi": are the villas scattered on the territory where the Este family was used to live. Are part of the UNESCO Heritage. https://www.ferraraterraeacqua.it/en/delizie?set_language=en

We were just in Ferrara for 2 nights and loved the city. With only one full day and another morning there, we did not have a lot of time, but we did walk the walls ( the whole way), visiting a large Monday market on the way to the starting point for the walls, strolled through the large square in front of the cathedral (which is partially covered for renovation right now), and visited Palazzo Diamanté (art of Ercole di Roberto and others) and Palazzo Schifanoia. The murals in the Salone di Mesi were stunning—-we spend 45 minutes in that room listening to the audio guide for each panel of each month.

https://www.ferraraterraeacqua.it/it/ferrara/scopri-il-territorio/arte-e-cultura/ville-dimore-teatri-storici/palazzo-schifanoia

https://www.palazzodiamanti.it/

The best part of our visit to Ferrara was our hotel. Hotel Annunziata is a small family-run hotel right on Piazza della Repubblica, directly across from Castello Estense. Our room had a full view of the castle (beautifully lit at night) and a small balcony. Breakfast was one of the best and most varied we have had in Italy, with gluten-free, lactose-free, and vegan options as well as a full array of breads and pastries, and meats and cheeses.

https://www.annunziata.it/en/

All those aspects were very nice, but it was the kindness of the owners that made it special. First, they enabled my husband to get a replacement for the wrist brace he wears at night but somehow lost earlier in the trip. We had searched for a replacement in pharmacies at various towns in Puglia, but they never had the right type. So I ordered a good one on Amazon.it and had it delivered to Hotel Annunziata 2 days before our arrival there. I advised them it was coming and asked them to hold it for our arrival. When we walked in the door to check in, the manager greeted us with a big smile and handed my husband the package.

That evening we had a late dinner at a nearby trattoria. I discovered when we returned to my room that I did not have my shoulder bag that I use as a day bag to carry maps, water bottle, sunglasses, etc. No money, passports or credit cards, but the sunglasses are very expensive prescription ones. I thought about going back to the restaurant right then, but my husband was already in bed and asleep. So I thought it could wait til the next day when they opened for lunch.

But the next morning was Monday, and I learned to my dismay the restaurant was closed all day. And Tuesday we had to leave for our next destination well before they opened for lunch. So I asked my husband (who speaks decent Italian) to ask at the reception desk if they could help. Turns out it was one of the owners (Zeno, in the photo on the website with his wife and his mother) who was manning the desk that morning. He said he would see what he could do, made a quick phone call, and said his mother would contact the owners of the restaurant (whom she knows) and arrange to meet them and pick up the bag if it was there. We should go about our sightseeing for the day and he would keep us posted. So we went out to walk the walls and returned 3 hours later, to be greeted by a smiling Zeno, who said my missing bag was safely back in our room.

The next morning we saw Zeno’s mother in the office as we walked by for breakfast, so we went in and introduced ourselves so my husband could thank her in person, in Italian. What a charming and gracious woman.

Edit: Sorry, no longer on Kanopy or other streaming service at this time. Try your local library.
To enhance a visit to the Jewish history sites in Ferrara, watch the Oscar winning movie, 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis' (1971) before your trip. It is a masterpiece of film-making which personalizes the tragedy that befell Italian Jewry through the Fascist race laws. It was restored a few years ago, and is available on Kanopy.

Thanks for that info, Mike. I saw that movie on TV decades ago and have wanted to rewatch it, but it seemed not to be available anywhere.

Thanks, you all, for more great advice and information! I appreciate the suggestions for the Archeological Museum and for MEIS (which was actually one of the reasons I decided to spend several days in Ferrara). Trattoria da Noemi sounds wonderful! I will also see if I can get a copy of "Finzi-Contini" from my library. Thank you, everyone! Once again, I'm deeply grateful to the wonderful people who help each other out on this forum!

The book on which the movie 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis' is based is well worth reading in English or Italian. Giorgio Bassani was from Ferrara and Jewish and wrote in a spare but evocative style. He was also the editor responsible for getting 'The Gattopardo' published, from which we get the timeless quote from Prince Salina: 'If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.'