Ferrara - a Renaissance star, a home-city, a city...

Ferrara is not just the 'City of Arts', museums and magnificent architecture, but also the place where you can feel how the city life is being predominated by the atmosphere of the past. For people who like walking, here's an extraordinary programme. This programme allows one both perceive the man-created beauty with one's senses, and get to understand why Ferrara has got that very specific form and colour; why its masterpieces are located in that particular places and how they relate with the city tissue. Penetrating into this world becomes easier with the help of the architect-guide.
The itinerary aims to explain to a visitor how the urban culture of Ferrara developed across the centuries. To do so, the guide takes the visitor to the places of clou events of the city's history, from the very beginning in early medieval ages till the late renaissance:

1) From the founding of the city as a Byzantine military camp (castrum) to its transformation into a medieval commune. While walking the streets of castrum, one runs against the traces of the Byzantine nobility homes, roads, and churches, dedicated to the Byzantine saints;

From a shift in the city's economy when it becomes the River Po's main port to its becoming a trading and banking centre. While passing through the medieval portal quarter (Via delle Volte), one gets to learn what was the portal productive mechanism like. The warehouses (Fondaco) are connected with the dwellings of the parallel street with the suspended passages, which drop shade and provide eternal twilight. The arrive of the Jewish community stimulated city's economy. Jewish history reveals itself to a visitor while walking the streets of Ghetto;

From the utmost achievements of medieval urban culture, such as the magnificent Roman-Gothic Cathedral of St. George, to the fusion of medieval archetypes with the ideas of the Renaissance, as in case of Estense Castle, one of the few European castles, still surrounded by water. Co-presence of these elements of different epochs and styles composes the unique ensemble of the Central Square Trento Trieste.
The rest of the itinerary concerns the Renaissance part of the city. There are two opportunities of continuation of the tour:

4a) This route is designed for tourists who are not interested in having the master class of Italian Cuisine.

Overpassing the limit of Corso Giovecca, the visitor enters the area of Addizione Erculea. While strolling along the Ercole d'Este Street, one can notice how the palazzos graduately become wealthier and more sophisticated. The culmination of this crescendo is the marvelous Palazzo dei Diamanti, faced with marble pyramidal tiles that create fantastic effects of light and shade. After a stop on the crossroads of the Angels and understanding its role in the ensemble of the city, the itinerary finishes in piazza Ariostea - the green heart of the city and the venue of the annual costumed medieval action 'Palio'. At the end of the tour, one might have meal in the neighboring 'piece of countryside in the heart of the city' - bio-agritourism 'Terraviva.'

4b) This route is designed for tourists who want to have the master class of Italian Cuisine. Leaving the central square, one passes the narrow cut of Adelardi Street and enters the University quarter. After a brief stop at Europe's oldest wine pub “Brindisi”, known to be Copernicus' and Paracelsus' favourite, the vistior takes a walk down Savonarola Street, which is always swarming with students, and takes a look at some of the old halls of the University. Finally, to help the visitor understand the way of life of the nobility of the Renaissance Ferrara, there's Casa Romei, an early Renaissanse Palace belonging to the Estense Court's noble family. From there, passing through a 'metaphysical' Campofranco, the visitor arrives to the final destination - the kitchen of house 18 of Voltacasotto Street.

Culinary Master Class is held by a graduate chef with a decade of experience, and will focus on the practical implementation of Italian dishes accompanied by a theoretical excursion into basic foods and cooking methods of the Mediterranean menu.

The entire excursion program is didactic and interactive. At the end of the tour program,participants will learn to distinguish between the architectural styles, find out how the constructions of certain places are linked with territorial resources, and which are the factors that make a city develop in some certain way. Participants of the culinary master class will learn first-hand the postulates of Mediterranean food, the rules of a successful combination of foods, wines, and will participate directly in the preparation of authentic recipes passed from mother to son.