Ferrara and the Este (Renaissance and Reformation)

Introduction

The history of Ferrara in the Renaissance is inextricably bound up with the history of the Este dynasty, the aristocratic lords of ancient lineage who governed the city and its territory from the 13th century to 1598. In 1264 the church and various Guelph allies recognized Obizzo II d’Este as lord of Ferrara, making Este political power dependent upon church authority, which ultimately would lead to the dynasty’s political downfall at the end of 16th century. With Ferrara as their base, the Este expanded control over other towns and areas in the vicinity during the Renaissance, including Modena, Reggio Emilia, and the Tuscan Apennines. Ferrara enjoyed a remarkably stable political rule at its height in the Renaissance. For example, three sons of Niccolò III, who ruled from 1393 to 1441, governed in peaceful succession after his death: Leonello (b. 1441–d. 1450), Borso (b. 1450–d. 1471), and Ercole I (b. 1471–d. 1505). Political stability enabled the burgeoning of Este artistic patronage, and the arts in turn celebrated the Este patrons in their princely magnificence. When Alfonso II could not produce a legitimate male heir at the end of the 16th century, the government of the city devolved to the church and the Este were forced to move to Modena, from where they ruled a territory greatly reduced in size and importance. To this day, the impressive library of Ferrarese Renaissance literary culture, the Biblioteca Estense, and the vast majority of archives and records of early modern Ferrara are housed in Modena. Renaissance Ferrara has been somewhat marginalized as a case for study when compared to the scholarly dialogues that have thrived around Florence, Rome, and Venice in Renaissance studies. The Ferrarese poets Ludovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso, whose narrative poems have consistently been a focus for the investigations of literary and cultural historians over the centuries, are exceptions to that fate. But a new generation of scholars tracking cultural production of various types—architecture, art, literature, music, printing, urban planning—is now making a convincing case for the validity of the study of Ferrara as an innovative center of unique cultural works in the 15th and 16th centuries.

General Overviews

Benefitting from the genealogical and historical research of Chiappini 1967 and the works of other Italian scholars, Gundersheimer 1973 provides a groundbreaking cultural and historical study of Ferrara in the Renaissance, with attention to history, politics, patronage, and art; Gundersheimer 1990 suggests that more archival research will take Ferrarese studies in fruitful directions. Prosperi 2000 and Looney and Shemek 2005 include many essays that respond to that charge. Folin 2001 deepens and perfects the methodology in Gundersheimer 1973, with a focus on the intersection of political and artistic culture in Ferrara. Papagno and Quondam 1982 and Salmons and Moretti 1984 are collections of essays that demonstrated the growing interest in Ferrara in the 1980s. Pade, et al. 1990 bears the mark of a conference but contains much general information that is useful. Dean 2002 examines the economy that allowed medieval feudal landholders to become powerful lords of an emblematic early modern city.

Chiappini, Luciano. Gli Estensi. Varese, Italy: Dall’Oglio, 1967.
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The fundamental historical and genealogical study of the Este dynasty.
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Dean, Trevor. Land and Power in Late Medieval Ferrara: The Rule of the Este, 1350–1450. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
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Tracks the way the Este rulers consolidated their power in the centuries following the establishment of their lordship in 1264 through the practice of careful land management in and around Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio.
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Folin, Marco. Rinascimento estense: Politica, cultura, istituzioni di un antico Stato italiano. Rome: Laterza, 2001.
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Detailed examination of the administrative, cultural, and political structures of the Estense government apparatus during the Renaissance. Helpful graphs and tables on university graduates, positions in the court, positions in the ducal government, income, and the social status of Estense governors in the provinces, among much else.
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Gundersheimer, Werner L. Ferrara: The Style of a Renaissance Despotism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.
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Foundational monograph (available in Italian as Ferrara estense: Lo stile del potere) on the study of Ferrara and the Este court. Makes the case for Ferrara’s vitality as a cultural center in the long 15th century, focusing on the cultural continuity created during the extended reign of Niccolò III and his three sons, Leonello, Borso, and Ercole, from 1393 to 1505.
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Gundersheimer, Werner L. “Ferrarese Studies: An Agenda for the Future.” In La corte di Ferrara e il suo mecenatismo, 1441–1598: Atti del convegno internazionale. Copenaghen,21–23 maggio 1987. Edited by Marianne Pade, Leene Waage Petersen, and Daniela Quarta, 353–361. Modena, Italy: Panini, 1990.
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Proposes new directions for the study of Renaissance Ferrara, arguing for the value of more attention to the historical archives.
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Looney, Dennis, and Deanna Shemek, eds. Phaethon’s Children: The Este Court and Its Culture in Early Modern Ferrara. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2005.
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Collection of fifteen essays that examines different aspects of Ferrarese culture during the Renaissance, including literature (Ascoli, Bruscagli, Clubb, Looney, Quint), music (Lockwood), art (Colantuono), as well as historical genealogy (Bestor, Tristan), women (Ghirardo), urban chronicles (Dean), religion (Bonfil, Smarr), epistolography (Shemek), and the reception of Ferrarese culture itself (Gundersheimer). Ample bibliography with suggestions for future study.
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Pade, Marianne, Leene Waage Petersen, and Daniela Quarta, eds. La corte di Ferrara e il suo mecenatismo, 1441–1598: Atti del convegno internazionale. Copenaghen,21–23 maggio 1987. Modena, Italy: Panini, 1990.
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Multilingual volume of twenty-two essays on the variety of cultural production sponsored by the Este court from the interaction between Leonello and Guarino Veronese in the 1440s to that between Alfonso II and Torquato Tasso in the 1580s and 1590s.
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Papagno, Giuseppe, and Amedeo Quondam, eds. La corte e lo spazio: Ferrara estense. 3 vols. Rome: Bulzoni, 1982.
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Thirty-five essays based on work presented at the Center for “Europa delle Corti” in Ferrara in the early 1980s. Essays consider Este culture from the perspectives of material space, cultural space, and courtly space.
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Prosperi, Adriano, ed. Il Rinascimento: Situazioni e personaggi. Vol. 6, Storia di Ferrara. Ferrara: Corbo, 2000.
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Encyclopedic volume, part of a larger series on Ferrara, which contains seventeen fundamental articles that focus on the Este and their associates in the context of key topics such as government (Folin, Ricci, Turchi, Guerzoni), genealogy (Bestor), geography (Donattini), religion (Franceschini, Dall’Olio, Raffaelli, Leoni), music (Fabbri, Lockwood), publishing (Perini), astrology (Bacchelli), humanism (D’Ascia), crime (Folin), and the devolution (Biondi).
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Salmons, June, and Walter Moretti, eds. The Renaissance in Ferrara and its European Horizons. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1984.
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Bilingual volume of seventeen essays (eight in English, nine in Italian) with some attention to the influence of Ferrarese Renaissance culture beyond Ferrara. Not a cohesive volume but important for the attention it cast on Ferrara at the time of its publication. Copublished by Edizioni Girasole (Ravenna).
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Patronage: Art and Music

Longhi 1934 is the classic study of Ferrarese painting. Zevi 1960, Newcomb 1980, Lockwood 1984, Tuohy 1996, Campbell 1997, and Rosenberg 1997 examine how the Ferrarese rulers used patronage strategically to create an impression of princely magnificence through art, architecture, and music. Mitchell 1990 considers how the papacy used artistic spectacle to suit its own purposes in the year of transition between Este rule of the city and papal control. Baxandall 1963 and Grafton 2000 consider the links between humanism and the Ferrarese Renaissance, recognizing the role that the school of Guarino Veronese played in preparing for the humanistic flowering of the court of Leonello d’Este in the 1440s. Ghirardo 2010 argues that princely magnificence was manifested in Ferrara in more than the usual ways.

Baxandall, Michael. “A Dialogue on Art from the Court of Leonello d’Este.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 26 (1963): 304–336.
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One of the earliest and best examinations of the De politia litteraria of Angelo Decembrio, which portrays the dynamic courtly discussion in the 1440s on the revival of the classics in Ferrara.
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Campbell, Stephen John. Cosmè Tura of Ferrara: Style, Politics, and the Renaissance City, 1450–1495. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.
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A consideration of the idiosyncratic work of this emblematic Ferrarese artist in the context of humanism, with a focus on the role and status of the artist in the courtly culture of the Este.
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Ghirardo, Diane. “Mediterranean Pathways, Exotic Flora, Fauna, and Food in Renaissance Ferrara.” California Italian Studies 1.1 (2010): 1–11.
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Offers a helpful corrective of the standard scholarly position that the prince displayed his magnificence through art, literature, and music. In Ferrara, a series of different princes were also very interested in using flora, fauna, and food to portray their symbolic worth.
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Grafton, Anthony. Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Renaissance. New York: Hill and Wang, 2000.
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Contains a key chapter on how Alberti communicated his sense of classical art through his architectural projects in Ferrara during the reign of the humanist prince, Leonello d’Este, in the 1440s.
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Lockwood, Lewis. Music in Renaissance Ferrara, 1400–1505: The Creation of a Musical Center in the Fifteenth Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.
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Study based on archival research that examines the importance of music at the Este court in the 15th century, with a focus on the European composers, including Guillaume Dufay, Jacob Obrecht, and Josquin Desprez, all of whom brought international fame to Ferrara’s music scene.
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Longhi, Roberto. Officina ferrarese. Rome: Le Edizioni d’Italia, 1934.
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Classic study on the uniqueness of Ferrarese art and, by extension, on the quirky strangeness of the culture of Ferrara in general.
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Mitchell, Bonner. 1598: A Year of Pageantry in Renaissance Ferrara. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. Binghamton, NY: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1990.
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On the elaborate celebrations that marked the entry of Pope Clement VIII into the city to reclaim it for the papacy.
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Newcomb, Anthony. The Madrigal at Ferrara, 1579–1597. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.
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Archival study that documents the innovative nature of musical practice in Alfonso II’s court in the last decades of the 16th century, with attention to Marenzio, Luzzaschi, Virchi, and Nanino, among others.
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Rosenberg, Charles M. The Este Monuments and Urban Development in Renaissance Ferrara. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
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Studies the urban development of Ferrara over the 14th and 15th centuries as it was transformed from a medieval town into a Renaissance city. Analyzes the creation of four sculptural public monuments dedicated to rulers from the Este family in the context of the developing urbanization.
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Tuohy, Thomas. Herculean Ferrara, 1471–1505, and the Invention of a Ducal Capital. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
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Archival study that focuses on the reign of Ercole I, with special attention to the financial records that document the impressive building projects he sponsored, including many buildings now lost. Advances the controversial position that Ercole should be given credit for the redesign of the city’s urban core, rather than his engineer and urban planner, Biagio Rossetti, as previous scholars argued.
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Zevi, Bruno. Biagio Rossetti, architetto ferrarese, il primo urbanista moderno europeo. Turin, Italy: Einaudi, 1960.
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Classic study of the mastermind behind the transformation of medieval Ferrara into what Jacob Burckhardt called “the first modern city,” through the project late in the tenure of Ercole I to expand the city’s original medieval urban core by adding a rational grid of streets—the Herculean Addition. Recast with some alterations as Sapere vedere la città: Ferrara di Biagio Rossetti, “la prima città moderna europea” (Turin: Einaudi, 1997).
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Patronage: Letters

The Este are well known for their patronage of three poets during the Renaissance—Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso—although the latter two claimed not to have been especially well supported. Various essays in Moretti 1994 touch on each poet, but the volume goes deeper into Ferrarese literary culture than these three most famous poets. Bruscagli 1983 provides the most condensed picture of the literary culture of the Este court over two centuries, touching on narrative poetry, theater, and theoretical writings. Villoresi 1994 is focused on the role and power of theater in Ferrarese culture’s interaction with antiquity. Prandi 1990 examines the notion of play in the courtier’s idealized code of behavior. Anceschi and Matarrese 1998 and Venturi 1999 are the most recent collections of essays on Boiardo and Tasso, respectively, based on international conferences. Piromalli 1953, Looney 1996, Shemek 1998, and Stoppino 2012 look in detail at the cultural context in which Ariosto wrote with a focus on class struggle (Piromalli), humanism (Looney), and gender (Shemek and Stoppino). Gardner 1904 writes for the non-academic reader of over a century ago, who was, it turns out, highly educated.

Anceschi, Giuseppe, and Tina Matarrese, eds. Il Boiardo e il mondo estense nel Quattrocento. 2 vols. Padua, Italy: Antenore, 1998.
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Collection of essays from an international conference held in cities across Emila-Romagna in 1994 in honor of Boiardo’s death.
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Bruscagli, Riccardo. Stagioni della civiltà estense. Pisa, Italy: Nistri-Lischi, 1983.
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Foundational study of the literary culture in the Este court from Boiardo to Ariosto to Tasso.
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Gardner, Edmund G. Dukes and Poets in Ferrara: A Study in the Poetry, Religion and Politics of the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries. London: Constable, 1904.
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This popularized but informative study remains a surprisingly dependable resource on the cultural period in Ferrara.
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Looney, Dennis. Compromising the Classics: Romance Epic Narrative in the Italian Renaissance. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1996.
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Study of how the reception of classical literature influenced the development of the medieval genre of chivalric romance from Boiardo in the 15th century to Ariosto and Tasso in the 16th. Includes chapter on school of Guarino Veronese in Ferrara.
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Moretti, Walter, ed. Il Rinascimento: Letteratura. Vol. 7, Storia di Ferrara. Ferrara: Edizioni Librit, 1994.
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Encyclopedic volume, part of a larger series on Ferrara, that contains thirteen articles on the Este and literature, including humanism (Tateo, Pasquazi, Pasquini), astrology (Bertozzi), the dialect (Matarrese), lyric poetry (Bentivogli), theater (Arbizzoni, Ariani), Boiardo (Praloran), Ariosto (Bárberi Squarotti), Tasso (Moretti), Guarini (Guglielminetti), and literary theory (Tognoli).
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Piromalli, Antonio. La cultura di Ferrara ai tempi di Ariosto. Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1953.
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Influenced by Gramsci’s Marxism, this analysis of the cultural context in which Ariosto wrote Orlando Furioso (completed in preparation for the author’s Motivi e forme nella poesia di Ariosto, 1954) overemphasizes the clash among social classes in Ferrara. Second edition published by Bulzoni in Rome, 1975.
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Prandi, Stefano. Il Cortegiano ferrarese: I Discorsi di Annibale Romei e la cultura nobiliare nel cinquecento. Florence: Olschki, 1990.
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Study of the Este court in the second half of 16th century, following the life and work of the courtier Annibale Romei, famous for his focus on chess and other courtly games.
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Scoglio, Egidio. Il teatro e la Corte Estense. Lodi, Italy: Biancardi, 1965.
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Essential study of the innovative theatrical tradition in Ferrara.
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Shemek, Deanna. Ladies Errant: Wayward Women and Social Order in Early Modern Italy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998.
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An interdisciplinary study that considers the representation of women in Ariosto’s Furioso against the backdrop of early modern anxiety about women who transgress boundaries. From the role of prostitutes in Ferrarese culture to characters in Ariosto’s poem, especially Angelica and Bradamante, Shemek examines how femininity threatens hierarchy and order and how gender and genre align.
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Stoppino, Eleonora. Genealogies of Fiction: Women Warriors and the Dynastic Imagination in the Orlando Furioso. New York: Fordham University Press, 2012.
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On the Este, their marriage strategies, and some of the models of female authority in Ferrarese legend and history. One of the few critical studies of Ariosto’s Furioso to treat early chivalric romance seriously.
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Venturi, Gianni, ed. Torquato Tasso e la cultura estense. 3 vols. Florence: Olschki, 1999.
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Collection of essays from an international conference held in Ferrara in 1995 in honor of Tasso’s death.
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Villoresi, Marco. Da Guarino a Boiardo: La cultura teatrale a Ferrara nel Quattrocento. Rome: Bulzoni, 1994.
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On the origins of the important theatrical culture in Ferrara, crucial in the revival of the Latin playwrights Plautus and Terence during the Renaissance.
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Institutions of Learning

Bertoni 1903 details the early history of the collection of books in the court of Ercole I that would eventually grow over the years into a venerable library. Fava 1925 covers the entire period of the library’s growth. Jardine and Grafton 1986 provides an excellent introduction to the school of Guarino. Castelli 1991 gives a general history of the university, and Raspadori 1991 provides a comprehensive list of the professors at the university. Castelli 1995 focuses on the individuals who attended the university. Bertozzi 1994 looks at various intellectual controversies in Ferrarese culture in the 15th and 16th centuries and considers their links to the court and the institutions of learning in Ferrara. Gundersheimer 1980 considers the education of women in the court of Ercole I, focusing on the duke’s wife, Eleonora.

Bertoni, Giulio. La Biblioteca Estense e la cultura ferrarese ai tempi del Duca Ercole I (1471–1505). Turin, Italy: Loescher, 1903.
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Seminal study of the development of the Estense library into a noteworthy repository of chivalric literature, vernacular translations of classical works, and much else.
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Bertozzi, Marco, ed. Alla Corte degli Estensi: Filosofia, arte e cultura a Ferrara nei secoli XV e XVI. Ferrara: University of Ferrara Press, 1994.
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Collection of essays on the various philosophical cultures circulating in the Estense court in the 15th and 16th centuries, with a focus on the links between the court and the university.
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Fava, Domenico. La Biblioteca Estense nel suo sviluppo storico, con il catalogo della mostra permanente. Modena, Italy: Vincenzi, 1925.
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Study of the history of the Estense library, written by the former librarian.
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Castelli, Patrizia, ed. La rinascita del sapere: Libri e maestri dello studio ferrarese. Venice: Marsilio, 1991.
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General history of the university.
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Castelli, Patrizia, ed. “In supreme dignitatis . . .”: Per la storia dell’Universita’ di Ferrara, 1391–1991. Florence: Olschki, 1995.
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Papers presented at a conference in celebration of the sixth centenary of the university, many on humanists associated with the institution, including Celio Calcagnini, Vincenzo Maggi, and Francesco Patrizi.
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Gundersheimer, Werner L. “Women, Learning, and Power: Eleonora of Aragon and the Court of Ferrara.” In Beyond Their Sex: Learned Women of the European Past. Edited by Patricia H. Labalme, 46–54. New York: New York University Press, 1980.
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The author examines the groundbreaking role that Eleonora of Aragon played in the court of her husband, Ercole I d’Este, duke of Ferrara, which made her an important model for her daughter, Isabella d’Este.
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Jardine, Lisa, and Anthony Grafton. From Humanism to the Humanities. London: Duckworth, 1986.
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Excellent chapter on the school of Guarino Veronese in Ferrara.
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Raspadori, Francesco, ed. I maestri di medicina ed arti dell’Universita’ di Ferrara (1391–1950). Florence: Olschki, 1991.
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Lists all the professors of medicine and liberal arts from the university.
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Religion

Prosperi 2000 proposes that the complex history of religion in Ferrara is deserving of more scholarly attention. Together, Marzola 1976 and Marzola 1978 gives the basic history of the Catholic Church in Ferrara. Gundersheimer 1972 emphasizes the extreme devotion of Ercole I. Caponetto 1992 provides the story behind Protestant reform in Italy in the 16th century, with some attention to Ferrara’s role in the process. Balletti 1930 provides a basic introduction to the history of Jews in Ferrara. Bonfil 1994 builds on Balletti’s work, emphasizing the crucial role that Ferrara played in providing a home to Sephardic Jews fleeing Spain and Portugal after the royal decree of expulsion in 1492. Blaisdell 1975 examines the serious and extended interest in Protestantism and reform in Ferrara in the 16th century.

Balletti, Antonio. Gli ebrei e gli estensi. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Forni, 1930.
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Basic history of the relationship between Jews and the Este over the centuries, beginning with Ercole I’s policies of inclusion. Reprinted by Forni in Bologna, 1969.
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Blaisdell, Charmarie Webb. “Politics and Heresy in Ferrara, 1534–1559.” Sixteenth-Century Journal 61 (1975): 67–93.
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Examination of the Protestant tendencies of the court of Ercole II, promoted especially by his French wife, Renée, who, educated by Jacques Lefèvre, a teacher known for his heretical ideas, welcomed Calvin himself to her court in Ferrara in 1536.
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Bonfil, Robert. Jewish Life in Renaissance Italy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
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Important scholarly work with much detail on Sephardic Jews from the Iberian peninsula who were welcomed in Ferrara post 1492.
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Caponetto, Salvatore. La Riforma Protestante nell’Italia del Cinquecento. Turin, Italy: Claudiana, 1992.
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Basic history of the Protestant Reformation in Italy in the 16th century, with attention to the rise of Calvinism in Ferrara and Modena (pp. 234–269). Translated by Anne C. and John Tedeschi as The Protestant Reformation in Sixteenth-century Italy (Kirksville, MO: Thomas Jefferson University Press, 1999).
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Gundersheimer, Werner L. Art and Life at the Court of Ercole I d’Este: The De Triumphis religionis of Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti. Geneva, Switzerland: Droz, 1972.
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A work in ten books dedicated to Ercole I by the Bolognese humanist Sabadino degli Arienti, who was respected in the Este court. In the genre of the Mirror of Princes, the work praises Ercole for his virtues, including the intense, almost evangelical, fervor with which he practiced traditional Christianity.
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Marzola, Mario. Per la storia della Chiesa ferrarese nel secolo XVI (1497–1590). Turin, Italy: Società Editrice Internazionale, 1976.
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History of the Catholic Church during the last century of Este rule in Ferrara.
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Marzola, Mario. Per la storia della Chiesa ferrarese nel secolo XVI (1497–1590), Parte seconda. Turin, Italy: Società Editrice Internazionale, 1978.
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Contains epistolary correspondence in Italian and Latin that sheds light on the history of the Catholic Church in Ferrara in the 16th century.
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Prosperi, Adriano, ed. Il Rinascimento: Situazioni e personaggi. Vol. 6, Storia di Ferrara. Ferrara: Corbo, 2000.
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Encyclopedic volume, edited by the most important scholar of religion in Ferrara, Adriano Prosperi, and part of a larger series on Ferrara, which contains seventeen fundamental articles on Renaissance Ferrara, four of which focus on religion (Franceschini, Dall’Olio, Raffaelli, Leoni).
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Important Original Sources

Students of the Ferrarese Renaissance have at their disposal an array of original source material in volumes produced over the centuries. A very impressive sequence of chronicles and court histories enables the student to track events at, in some cases, an almost daily level. Diario ferrarese (Pardi 1928) provides information on events that occurred between 1409 and 1502. The Chronicon Estense (Bertoni and Vicini 1908–1937) covers approximately the first seventy-five years of the 15th century. Caleffini 1938 covers approximately the last twenty-five years of the 15th century, 1471–1494, in great detail. Zambotti 1934 covers 1476–1504, while Zerbinati 1989 covers 1500–1527. The Este family commissioned Gasparo Sardi to write a history of Ferrara (Sardi 1556), which is very helpful but only available in early printings. Baruffaldi 1700 provides a valuable history that includes an extensive section on the Renaissance, as does Frizzi 1791–1809. Muratori 1984 gives a history of the Este court and a critical review of the genealogical tradition. Folin 2000 provides a helpful overview of all these sources.

Baruffaldi, Girolamo. Dell’istoria di Ferrara scritta dal dottor D. Girolamo Baruffaldi Ferrarese. Ferrara: Bernardino Pomatelli, 1700.
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Historical study by Ferrarese scholar whose work is always dependable.
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Bertoni, Giulio, and Emilio Paolo Vicini, eds. Chronicon Estense, cum additamentis usque ad annum 1478. Città di Castello, Italy: Lapi, 1908–1937.
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Part of Ludovico Antonio Muratori’s gargantuan project to publish documents and sources useful for the study of local histories across the Italian peninsula. Originally published in 1724 by Muratori in Volume 15 of Rerum italicarum scriptores.
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Caleffini, Ugo. Diario di Ugo Caleffini (1471–1494). Edited by Giuseppe Pardi. Ferrara: Premiata Tipografia Sociale, 1938.
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Modern edition of important diary by one of Ercole I’s notaries. Pardi was an important scholar of Ferrarese institutions.
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Folin, Marco. “Le cronache a Ferrara e negli Stati estensi (secoli XV-XVI).” In Il Rinascimento. Situazioni e personaggi. Vol. 6, Storia di Ferrara. Edited by Adriano Prosperi, 459–492. Ferrara: Corbo, 2000.
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A comprehensive review of the most important urban chronicles in Ferrara and its territorities in the 15th and 16th centuries.
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Frizzi, Antonio. Memorie per la storia di Ferrara. 5 vols. Ferrara: Pomatelli, 1791–1809.
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History by an archivist and local historian, with extensive sections on the Este during the Renaissance (Vol. 3, 394–509; Vol. 4).
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Muratori, Ludovico Antonio. Delle antichità estensi ed italiane. 2 vols. Sala Bolognese, Italy: Forni, 1984.
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The 18th-century scholar Muratori is an invaluable guide to Ferrarese history from its origins into his own time. This modern edition is a reprint of the original work published by the Stamperia Ducale in 1717 (Vol. 1) and 1740 (Vol. 2).
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Pardi, Giuseppe, ed. Diario ferrarese dall’anno 1409 sino al 1502 di autori incerti. Bologna, Italy: Zanichelli, 1928.
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Chronicle of 15th-century Ferrara by unidentified authors.
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Sardi, Gasparo. Historie Ferraresi di Gasparo Sardi. Ferrara: Francesco Rossi da Valenza, 1556.
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Commissioned work by court historian.
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Zambotti, Bernardino. Diario ferrarese dall’anno 1476 sino al 1504. Edited by Giuseppe Pardi. Bologna, Italy: Zanichelli, 1934.
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Important urban chronicle of most of the period when Ercole I ruled Ferrara, with attention given to his foreign policy, including his interactions with the court of Hungary.
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Zerbinati, Giovanni Maria. Croniche di Ferrara: Quali comenzano del anno 1500 sino al 1527. Edited by Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli. Ferrara: Deputazione provinciale ferrarese di storia patria, 1989.
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Chronicle that documents the end of Ercole I’s reign and much of reign of his son, Alfonso I.
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Journals

Since 1886, Ferrara has been well served by a local historical society, Deputazione Ferrarese di Storia Patria, which produces Atti e memorie della Deputazione ferrarese di storia patria. Schifanoia: notizie dell’Istituto di studi rinascimentali di Ferrara has a more comparative and general focus on Ferrarese Renaissance culture.

Atti e memorie della Deputazione ferrarese di storia patria. 1886–.
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Since 1886 with a few interruptions, the historical society, Deputazione Ferrarese di Storia Patria, has been publishing a variety of archival documents, texts, historical essays, gazetteers, and conference proceedings on the local history of Ferrara and its surrounding communities. There have been various publishers over the years, but since 1946 it has been published by STER (Rovigo).
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Schifanoia: notizie dell’Istituto di studi rinascimentali di Ferrara. 1986–.
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The Istituto di Studi Rinascimentali in Ferrara publishes the scholarly journal Schifanoia twice a year, now approaching its fiftieth volume. Essays in Italian or English address literary, musical, artistic, architectural topics connected with Ferrara and the Este during the Renaissance. Many of the articles derive from seminars, conferences, and workshops on Ferrara and the Este. Published by Panini (Modena) 1986–2007, and Fabrizio Serra (Pisa-Rome) since 2010.