Thursday & Friday in Ferrara

Thursday morning we got up early, made ourselves breakfast, packed and were out the door before 8:30 am, to catch our 9:30 am train to Ferrara. While our apartment in Trieste was nice, both of us missed having breakfast prepared for us.

We got to the station before 9:00 am, and since we had a half hour to spare, we sat in the Piazza del Liberta across the street and admired the monument to Elisabetta (Sissi) the wife of Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria. She had a tragic life. Her son was a murderer-suicide (as told in the 1968 film Mayerling, where she was played by Ava Gardner). Romy Schneider also played her in the much more upbeat 1955 film Sisi. She was later stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist.

Our train from Trieste to Venezia Mestre, where we had to change trains, was almost empty, took two-and-a-half hours, and cost us 10E apiece. The train from Venezia Mestre to Ferrara was completely full. We had to pile our luggage in the aisle because there was no room in the overhead. Fortunately, this train was less than an hour, although it cost us 30E apiece. When we finally got to Ferrara, a little after noon, we caught a bus to our hotel, intending to drop off our luggage. We are staying at the Hotel De Prati, one of those characteristic, family-run European hotels that seem to be disappearing. We were delighted to find our room already made up, with a large terrace to relax on.

Since we hadn't eaten, instead of relaxing on the terrace, we walked a block to the center of the old town and had lunch at the Osteria Savonarola, right in front of the statue erected to him. (I actually wondered why there was a statue of Savonarola in Ferrara, instead of Florence. It turns out he was born in Ferrara, and is still revered here, unlike in Florence, where he is considered a bit of a villain.) 

For lunch I had the daily "menu" consisting of traditional Ferrara dishes, including cappelacci di zucca (a pumpkin-filled, hat-shaped pasta pouch, brushed with sage and butter), salama da sugo (stewed pork sausage with mashed potatoes, the favorite of Ferrara's Lucrezia Borgia), and pasticcio di maccheroni (and oven-baked macaroni pie). Kathy had lasagna and grilled vegetables. (One anonymous commenter on our blog noted that Kathy seems to be eating much healthier than I do.) Once again, I forgot to take pictures. Sorry.

After lunch we went back to our hotel and I took a nap until almost 5:00 pm when we got up and walked into town for some gelato and sight-seeing. The main structure in the center of town is Castello Estense, which is, indeed, a castle with a moat and a drawbridge. It was built in 1385 to protect Nicolo II d'Este from the irate citizenry who were up in arms over tax increases.

In the 1400s it became the family's permanent residence. It was here that Duke Nicolo III d'Este had his son Ugo and young second wife Parisina beheaded when he discovered their affair. This was the inspiration for Robert Browning's My Last Dutchess, Byron's poem Parisina, and a pair of operas.

After wandering around for a few hours we went back to our hotel and were in bed by 8:00 pm

Most of this trip I've been waking up before dawn. Today, instead of exploring the town I just sat on the terrace with a cup of (decaf) Cappuccino, and watched the sun come up over Ferrara. I had originally planned another day trip for Friday, to Ravenna, to see the famous Byzantine mosaics. As Kathy and I went over the travel plans, though, both of us realized we were ready for a rest. Instead, we decided to look into renting bikes and riding around Ferrara's walls.

When we got downtown around 9:00 am we discovered that the entire town had been turned into an outdoor clothing market. I've read about "market days" in different guidebooks, but it was really amazing to see how many vendors there were. All of the vendors seemed to be selling clothing; perhaps the fruits and vegetables, like those we saw in Ljubljana, are sold on a different day.

To find a bike to rent I used Google Maps. The highest rated bike rental shop was the Todisco Brothers, right in the center of the city. When we got there, though, we found the place locked up (despite the latest review being only four days ago.) Back in Google Maps, I found another shop that was close by. Again, when we got there, we couldn't find it. We went into a bar, and asked, and were told that it was inside the hotel across the street. From there it was easy; for 6E, we each got a lovely orange bike to ride around the town.

There are bike paths all around the city, a 12.5 mile ride. For a portion of the way we were able to ride on top of the walls. Only Ferrara and Lucca in Italy have such complete walls.

The walls are quite thick. At lunch we saw an illustration of how they appeared in the 1800s, with a moat surrounding the entire town, with bridges and gates to get into town, such as this one. Most of the gates are gone, and the moat is now just a low-lying grassy area surrounding the walls. You can imagine from the terrain what it must have looked like when it was filled with water.

On Thursday night, while we were walking around the city, we made a lunch reservation at the restaurant from which we'd been turned away at lunch. My Lonely Planet guidebook gave the Trattoria da Noemi a glowing recommendation. Our reservation was at 1:00 pm and we were finished our bike ride at noon, so we indulged in my favorite European recreation; we got a table on the main square and people-watched for an hour.

Yesterday I'd tried all of the traditional dishes of Ferrara. Today I wanted to try something different. For starters, we had fried zucchini flowers and mushrooms. For our main (pasta) course, I had tortellini filled with gorgonzola cheese and walnuts, while Kathy had beef ravioli with cream sauce. We shared a salad. (See, I can eat healthy too.) For desert we had Zuppa inglese, or "English Soup". Lonely Planet was right; the food was really good.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for another nap. I wonder if I can adjust my schedule once I go back to OCC to take a nap every afternoon. Now that I have finished updating the blog, we're going out for gelato. In the morning we will catch the train for Torino where we're looking forward to visiting David and Denae Downs and Estie Martin and the rest of their Calvary Chapel Torino family.