Final preparations are under way for the long-awaited reopening of Ferrara’s Palazzina Marfisa d’Este, which from September 6, 2025 (inauguration on September 5) will return to welcome the public after major structural consolidation, plant upgrades and museum refurbishment.
Built in 1556 and still an extraordinary testimony of Renaissance housing, the Este residence was the subject of a major post-earthquake redevelopment project launched in January 2023, with a total investment of more than 1.17 million euros.
The work involved the seismic improvement of the building (consolidation of roofs, curbs, chaining and restoration of damaged masonry), the recovery of the Loggia degli Aranci, reinforced with a steel curb, as well as the restoration of 16th-century ceilings, floors and plasterwork. The entrance and ticket office, redone with traditional materials such as cocciopesto, sit alongside completely renovated restrooms and a state-of-the-art air-conditioning system, while an outdoor access ramp ensures full accessibility. The garden has been redesigned with paths that recall the Italian garden style.
The restoration site is complemented by the new museum layout (about 170,000 euros spent), which restores an updated cultural and narrative function to the spaces. The interventions also include the restoration of historic furniture belonging to BPER and some artworks, supported by municipal funds of nearly 147,000 euros.
The project was conceived and coordinated by the Monumental Heritage Service, the Culture, Tourism and UNESCO Relations Service and the Ferrara Arte Foundation, in collaboration with the Superintendency, with the aim of combining protection and enhancement, respecting the historic identity of the building while making it more accessible.
A leading figure in Ferrara’s cultural life between the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Marfisa d’Este was a woman of great culture and artistic sensitivity. Her home, now renovated, returns to be a treasure chest of memory and a living place of the community, a symbol of Renaissance Ferrara celebrated this year also on the 30th anniversary of its UNESCO recognition as a Renaissance City and World Heritage Site.
“The goal is to create a dynamic museum that on the one hand will safeguard the twentieth-century transformations promoted by museographer Nino Barbantini, and on the other celebrate more of the history of the Palazzina and the figure of Marfisa d’Este, the only member of the family to remain in Ferrara after the devolution,” explains Councillor for Culture and Monuments Marco Gulinelli. “It will be a place that both enhances its important past and has a new future: it will be a space accessible to everyone, which was not possible before, transforming the precious Este residence into a museum venue with no more architectural barriers, in step with the times and finally inclusive,” he continues. “We have worked in these months of setting up to make the most of this space, integrating it with a new exhibition route for the city’s collections, such as the ceramics of the Estense Foundation, with the aim of enriching the tour by guiding the public to discover the genesis of the building, the history of its protagonists, and the setting up curated by Nino Barbantini in 1938.”
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| Ferrara, Palazzina Marfisa d'Este reopens after major post-earthquake consolidation project |
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