Treading, listening, musing on the Voices of a city is revealing for those of our readers who wish to delve into the past and present of Ferrara. Among the key moments in the history of Ferrara, most attention has hitherto been focused on its most glorious period, that of the Este civilisation.   But Ferrara did not come to a stop at that moment in…

The sculpture and sculptors of Ferrara from the Devolution of 1598 to the Napoleonic occupation. It was the rare and richly illustrated tome by publisher Federico Motta Editore entitled Scultura e scultori a Ferrara 1598-1796 [Sculpture and sculptors in Ferrara, 1598-1796], housed in Ferrara's Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, that first started me thinking about this period, which runs from the Devolution to the arrival of…

Inside the poetry of Ferrara. Ferruccio De Lupis and the great publishing endeavour of 1921. I think that it would be of significant moment, not only for those studying or particularly interested in Ferrara, to bring to the attention of critics and enthusiastic readers the texts dedicated to the city by Ferruccio De Lupis during a literary epoch dominated by D'Annunzio at the heart of…

Portrait of an editor and of an era, in a conversation from a by gone age with Gabriele Corbo. After more than thirty years in the world of publishing and art, he has published more than four hundred books; he is an attentive critic, a connoisseur of twentieth-century art and a top-class printer. You can tell that he has always had a passion and love…

Ferrara keeps watch over Italy. The aerial defence for Pope John Paul's funeral and for Hungary are both provided from Poggio Renatico. For some years now, the lines of command of the forces ensuring the safety of our national and NATO skies have met and crossed at the Ferrara base. For Italy, Poggio Renatico is the home of the Operational Air Force Command (COFA), while…

The remarkable story of Comacchio's ancient fish processing factory, behind the Capuchin monastery. In 1905, the food processing company Bonaiuto Vitali & Co. built a magnificent factory on the strip of "land behind the Capuchin monastery" on the far western edge of the town of Comacchio, without any impact on the city; indeed it blended into the urban landscape. At the heart of this factory…

Recent publications reviewed. Reading as a bulwark against the disintegration of the psyche, writing as a defence against the pain of living, irony as a medicine for body and soul entwined between authorial and existential realities: these things support, enlighten and clarify the pages of this unusual and fine work by Elettra Testi, Tavor, Minerva Edizioni, Bologna 2005.

Ferrara in the musical life of Gioacchino Rossini. Gioacchino Rossini stayed in Ferrara on several occasions. It is by no means impossible that he was there as a child of seven, for the Carnival of 1798-99. The eminent Rossini scholar Paolo Fabbri has discovered that the composer's Pesaro-born mother, Anna Guidarini, who took soprano roles in opera semiseria, sang the leading roles in no fewer…

A brief lyrical and visual journey through words and images of Woman. Etching and drypoint as practiced by Marisa Carolina Occari readily illustrate and accompany the lyric poetry of women writers of our region, in Italian and in dialects, translated into another equally rich and precise language such as English. The lyrical and visual journey starts with Al Po, by Liana Medici Pagnanelli, twinned with…

The Land Reclamation Consortium in the second discrict of Polesine di S. Giogio celebrates four centuries of history. Four centuries of history. Four hundred years of life and uninterrupted activity on behalf of Ferrara's interland, from land reclamation in the literal sense (drainage, reclaiming the marshes) to the modern conception of defending the land and the environment, an essential precondition for all economic and social…

Venice, Ferrara and Porto Viro, "that 'cut' that brough so much prejudice and damage to our state...". Thus Aleotti, in his book Idrologia, judged the works by which t he Venetians, starting from Porto Viro, diverted the waters of the Fornaci Po in order to redirect the outflow from the Chioggia- Venice lagoon into the bay facing the Ferrara port of Goro. Planned since 1559,…

Exhibitions, museums and collecting at the time of the critical discover of the Este renaissance.Much is said today about the purposes, the methods and of course the impact - both aesthetic and economic - of art exhibitions. In recent decades, these events have been increasingly specialised, and have, at least in theory, consolidated their popularising and educational role. With the passing of the years we…

A very special mill that grinds incomparable flour. A symbol of sustainable development, the hero of Bacchelli's novel returns to work the waters of Po. Until a few years ago, it would have seem impossible to imagine that another floating mill would one day be found on the stretch of river once occupied by the San Michele mill owned by Lazzaro Scacerni, the hero of…

An important eighteenth century civic collection. The fine proportions and elegant eighteenth century interiors of the Palazzo Boncossi form the background to the current exhibition entitled "Civic memories: the Museum of Giovanni Maria Riminaldi". The exhibition displays a precious collection of marble sculptures, small bronzes, fine furnishings, mosaics and pictures from the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries.

A great missionary figure from Ferrara honoured in the state of Montana. A sort of historical novel entitled The Good Samaritan of the Northwest recounts the adventurous life of Antonio Ravalli, distinguished son of Ferrara and Jesuit missionary famous and almost venerated among the people of Montana in the United States of America. The life of Antonio Ravalli is a fascinating saga, which began in…

Cinque anni all'insegna della crescita progettuale. La Fondazione Carife rappresenta un osservatorio privilegiato per comprendere i mutamenti, quotidiani e di lungo periodo, che vive la nostra provincia. Ma è anche un "luogo" in cui i diversi soggetti sociali che operano in  vari modi e con diversi obiettivi nel territorio ferrarese, si confrontano, cooperano, riflettono insieme sulle  strategie da adottare per realizzare sviluppo locale in ambito…

Da anni la Cassa raccoglie i frutti di una politica attenta ed efficace. Anche il 2004 è stato un anno di soddisfazioni. Non c'è bisogno di ricorrere al mito per ammantare di nobiltà intellettuale l'iniziativa di costituire nel 1838  la Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara, come dovettero fare per esempio, gli antichi romani che, per dare prestigio alle  loro origini, fecero narrare da Virgilio un lungo…

Boldini: Lei è nato a Ferrara?De Pisis: - SiB: - Ha moglie?De P.: - NoB: - E dipinge?De P.: - Già, un pocoB: - E cosa fa?De P.: - Delle-"nature morte"B: - Oh, Dio, che tristezza! Faccia ben delle cose vive...De P.: - Dipingo di preferenza le "nature morte" perché amo troppo quelle vive, non oso affrontarle... col pennello almeno.B: - Ah, ecco... si faccia…

FERRARA. VOCI DI UNA CITTÀRivista semestrale di cultura, informazione e attualitàAnno 12, numero 22 - Giugno 2005Registrata presso il Tribunale di Ferrara il 9 novembre 1994con il numero 13/94. ISSN 1128-3572Spedizione in abbonamento postale c. 1, art. 1, l. 46/2004Edizione fuori commercio, riservata ai soci e agli amici dellaFondazione Cassa di Risparmio di FerraraCOMITATO EDITORIALEFrancesca Bargellesi, Vittorio Emiliani, Giorgio Franceschini,Roberto Pazzi, Paolo Ravenna, Leopoldo Santini,…