Discover Ferrara, City of the Renaissance

Explore Ferrara on this private walking tour and discover its must-see attractions

Guided walking tour led by a licensed private tour guide

Discover this hidden Italian gem and the reason why Ferrara is called the first modern city in Europe

Ferrara has retained its urban fabric virtually intact, discover how houses and town plannings were built and planned in rennaisance and medieval time.

Customize your tour to suit your own interests

Complete with moat Ferrara’s towering castle was commissioned by the Este family in 1385. Initially it was intended to protect the Este family from the town’s irate citizenry, who were up in arms over tax increases, but in the late 15th century it became the family’s permanent residence. Linked to the castle by an elevated passageway, the 13th-century Palazzo Municipale was the Este family home until they moved next door to the castle.The visit of the castle interior is not included in this tour

Throughout the Middle Ages and almost to the end of the 15th Century, the northern boundary of the city ran along the current road System of Viale Cavour-Corso Giovecca. In 1492 Ercole I commissioned to include this vast area in the centre (thus doubling the surface area of the city) and the great architect and town-planner, Biagio Rossetti, designed a plan which, due to its original and rational nature, made Ferrara the first modern city in Europe.
In honour of the Duke who ordered the new town planning this great district is known as Addizione Erculea.

Between the castle and the town hall is Piazza Savonarola, dominated by the monument to Girolamo Savonarola, the famous reformer born in Ferrara in 1452 at the origin of the theocratic dictatorship of Florence (1494-1498). It was also he who had the idea of the pyre of vanities in which books and important works of art disappeared. He is represented here with his arms raised in the midst of preaching. The square is bordered to the west by Via Coperta, a five-arch building that connected the two Este family residences (the castle and the town hall)

The Piazza Cattedrale lies between today’s town hall, former Este’s residence, and the St. George cathedral. From the square you can have a beautiful view of the cathedral facade and its reliefs, a sort of poor man’s bible

This Cathedral in the Romanesque-Gothic Lombard style has a beautiful tripartite façade endowed with a magnificent canopy (over the door), decorated with a depiction of the Last judgement.

Piazza del Municipio can be accessed directly from the cathedral square, passing through an imposing arch.
The wide square, one of the former inner courtyards of the Este’s ducal palace, is characterized by a staircase completely covered with white marble, finished in 1481.

The piazza Trento Trieste is the beating heart of the city. It dates back to the Middle Ages and the building of the new cathedral around which the seats of religious, civil and lordly power, in the shape of the family who in fact ruled Ferrara, were concentrated. Indeed, all the city’s seats of power were sited in the piazza: as well as the cathedral, there was the bishops’ house where the present Bishops Palace stands; the Palazzo della Ragione, the Notary’s Lodge, the first nucleus of the Palazzo Ducale, today’s Palazzo Municipale. Along the south side of the Cathedral runs the loggia dei Merciai. Also looking on to the piazza is the ex-church of San Romano, now home to a museum.

This commercial thoroughfare, the medieval town’s main street, which once connected the market square (piazza Trento e Trieste) with the port of Ferrara (now replaced by the Via Ripagrande) is bordered by porched medieval houses.

This charming medieval street marks the axis along which the so-called linear Ferrara developed between the 7th and 9th centuries A.D. and which greatly influenced the further development of the entire city. In Via delle Volte the architectural solution to development in a third dimension was to create overhead passageways: the vaults dotted along the street, to connect the warehouses on the banks of the river to the workshops-houses towards the centre. Here you can enjoy the atmosphere of its 14th and 15th-century buildings and the alleys that lead off it

There is hidden soul to Ferrara, its Jewish one, an important part of the city’s community. Through the streets of the Ghetto. The area involved in the former Ghetto, institued in the17th Century, is constituted by today’s Via Mazzini, Via Vittoria and Via Vignatagliata and Piazzetta Lampronti where, in the courtyards, the secret passageways, and on the evocative balconies, you can breathe in the intense life of the Ghetto

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• A dress code is required to enter places of worship. You may risk refused entry if you fail to comply with these dress requirements
• May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
• Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately

• Discover Ferrara, City of the Renaissance
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• Private tour
• Professional guide

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Please be advised..

• This Tour is Provided by Alliet’ARTI Tours – Manuela Roversi.
• Tour Timezone & Starts at Europe/Rome.
• Mobile or paper ticket accepted.
• For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
• This Tour is Rated 5 Stars based on 8 valid reviews on VIATOR.
• Minimum 1 Travelers is required to book.
• Maximum 10 Travelers is accepted for booking.