IL Castello Estense in Ferrara

We visited the 15th century castle in the heart of Ferrara last week and were wowed by its ceilings, dungeons and artistry.  Hopefully you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed taking them.  Not all were as impressed with the artistry as we were.  Deep thinker thought the dungeons were cool with the four layers of prison bars on the four layered windows (think onion layers in a shaft...the poor saps in the cells had those four sets of bars a walk way, another window with a set of bars to get to the outer wall, and then traverse the 30 foot wide moat...not fun).  However, after looking at two floors of frescos (painted ceilings) he decided to lay down on the floor in protest.  Interestingly, I lay down as well...to get better pictures.    

Can you imagine painting this on the ceiling of your 20 foot vaulted ceiling? One of the artists working in the castle fell to his death from his scaffolding shortly after completing his "ceiling" masterpiece.

The castle had a number of famous artists whose names escape me right now.  Suffice it to say, the artists commissioned by the Este family had a huge influence in renaissance art across northern Italy.

Impressive ceiling art...painted not really 3D.  It appears they're doing some restorative work on this ceiling. There were many like this.  Ferrara had a huge earthquake in May of this year and some places are still working to repair cracks, etc. 

The 3D effect of the frescos painted in this room really blew me away...it really looks like there are intricate wood carvings but...

There are not wood carvings but rather intricate paintings.