HARMONY AND BEAUTY: ALONG THE ROADS OF THE RENAISSANCE
Renaissance Piacenza
Piacenza is a fairytale town, full of Renaissance palaces and Basilicas. The most fascinating church is the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Campagna, with its superb frescoes, which fronts the square where in 1095 Pope Urban II announced the fi rst crusade in history. Another example of religious architecture is San Sisto, a Benedictine convent founded in 874, where Margaret of Austria (1522-1586) was buried. The altarpiece is a copy of Raphael’s Sistine Madonna; in 1754 the monks sold off the original, painted specially for this church, to a king of Poland for 10,000 sequins. The Sistine Madonna is now the star exhibit of the Dresden Museum. Other sights include the church of San Sepolcro (1513) and the Palazzo Farnese (1559-1602) next to the scanty ruins of the 14th-century citadel of the Visconti, consisting of two towers and a few battlemented walls. Via Taverna has one of the highest concentrations of aristocratic palaces in town: the Palazzo Barattieri di San Pietro, the Palazzo Somaglia, the Palazzo Scotti da Fombio and the 18th-century Palazzo Scotti di Castelbosco across the street. Particularly fraught with history is the 15thcentury Palazzo Landi between Via Giordano Bruno and Via del Consiglio, which had among its guests emperor Charles V and his son Philip II of Spain. The palace, which now houses the provincial courts, features an imposing gate (1506), a beautiful cloister and a grand staircase.
Picturesque Oltretorrente
This itinerary will take you to one of the most picturesque but perhaps less famous areas of Parma: the Oltretorrente, the town’s west end across the river Parma (which is a torrente, more a stream than a river proper). It is mainly a working-class neighbourhood, once criss-crossed by canals lined with monasteries, charitable institutions and pre-industrial workshops. The great conductor Arturo Toscanini was born here, in a house which has been turned into a museum full of relics, documents and curiosities. The large building embellished by loggias in Via D’Azeglio 45 is Parma’s old hospital or Ospedale Vecchio, built in 1400 and in use until 1926. In the Oltretorrente you will also find the monumental church of the Santissima Annunziata (1566), featuring a stucco relief of the Annunciation over the central portal. Other sights are the 17th-century oratory of Sant’Ilario (1663), dedicated to the town’s patron saint, and the church of Santa Maria del Quartiere (1604). A few steps away from the river, across the Ponte Verdi, you will find the Palazzo Ducale, commissioned by Ottavio Farnese in 1561, designed by one of the geniuses of Renaissance architecture, Vignola, and remodelled by Petitot in 1767. Its finest frescoes are in the Stanza degli Uccelli, decorated with 224 birds, and the romantic Sala dell’Amore, frescoed by Carracci and partly by Parmigianino. The ducal palace is surrounded by a vast park featuring century-old trees and 18th-century sculptures.
A tour of the courts along the Po
The Italian Renaissance reached the apex of its splendour along the Po. This tour of river courts starts from Gualtieri, where during the Renaissance architect Argenta designed a breathtakingly original arcaded square. The east side of the square is dominated by the imposing Palazzo Bentivoglio, inside which there are the grand Sala dei Giganti (with 17th-century frescoes), a chapel and an 18th-century theatre. The palace also houses the Museo “Antonio Ligabue” which contains copies of the artist’s paintings. The Museo Nazionale di Pittura Naif “Cesare Zavattini” in nearby Luzzara, established in 1967, has a moderately sized collection of naive paintings. The atmosphere in Guastalla is that of a small capital city: the traces left by the former rulers, the Gonzaga, are still clearly visible. The main square, Piazza Mazzini, is dominated by a late 16th-century bronze statue of Ferrante I Gonzaga by Leone Leoni, who was also known as L’Aretino. The piazza also features the Cathedral of San Pietro and the late 16th century Palazzo Ducale. The glory days of the town of Correggio lasted as long as six centuries, during which it was the capital of a principality. Today it is a picturesque old town whose main highlight is the Palazzo dei Principi, which had among its guests Ariosto, Bembo, L’Aretino and emperor Charles V. It now houses the Museo Civico, arranged in five rooms: the Mantegna room with a Christ painted by Andrea Mantegna in 1493; the Correggio room, containing another Christ painted on wood by Antonio Allegri, the master better known as Correggio.
On the trail of the Este in Modena
When the Este came to Modena, in 1598, the town became a splendid capital. Traces of those glory days can be found in several palaces, museums, art galleries, churches, and even a botanical garden, the Serre Ducali. Located between Corso Canal Grande and Viale Caduti in Guerra, the ducal glasshouses were established in the 18th century by Francesco III d’Este, and today contain over 1,000 rare plants. The fi rst stop on this itinerary is the historical centre of municipal power, the town hall in Piazza Grande. Behind the 17th-century facade adorned by a loggia, the Palazzo Comunale is in fact a complex of several medieval buildings. Climb the grand staircase to see the frescoed rooms on the upper fl oors, such as the Sala del Fuoco (Hall of Fire) frescoed by Nicolò dell’Abate in 1546. Marble portals, terracotta statues and precious Renaissance frescoes feature among the treasures of the church and monastery of San Pietro (1476-1518), whose sacristy still retains its original inlaid furniture. But how did the powerful Este live? Answers to this question are provided by the Galleria Estense, on the top fl oor of the Palazzo dei Musei, containing a valuable collection of paintings, drawings, objects, ancient books which formerly belonged to the ducal family.
Renaissance Ferrara
Ferrara still retains a distinctive Renaissance atmosphere. This itinerary is a real walk into the 16th century: a fascinating tour starting from the Castello Estense and proceeding along Via Borgo dei Leoni to the Chiesa del Gesù, which features a wonderful terracotta Lamentation over Christ. The itinerary also includes cobbled Corso d’Ercole I d’ Este, designed by the talented court architect Biagio Rossetti. The Corso, meant to be a Renaissance “ideal street”, runs in a perfectly straight line for some 1,300 metres or 1,421 yards and is lined by gardens and elegant palaces such as the Palazzo Giulio d’Este. The imposing buildings on the corners of the Quadrivio degli Angeli (Angels Crossing) between Corso Ercole I and Corso Porta Mare – the spot of Ferrara said to be most charged with cosmic energy – are the Palazzo dei Diamanti, the Palazzo Turchi di Bagno and the Palazzo Prosperi Sacrati. Not far from here is also Ludovico Ariosto’s home in Corso Rossetti. If you are tired of Renaissance town planning and would rather be in the country, take Viale della Certosa, a tree-lined dirt road right in the middle of the town centre. It connects the Certosa, formerly a monastery founded by Borso d’Este (1452) and now a monumental cemetery, with Piazza Ariostea, a grassy and geometric amphitheatre where the locals come to jog and play sport. On the corner between Viale della Certosa and Corso Porta Mare, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna housed in Palazzo Massari has a fi ne collection of impressionist art.
The roads of the Renaissance in Romagna
The starting point for this itinerary is Bagnacavallo, a gem of medieval town planning with the charming Piazza Nuova, beautiful churches (such as San Michele, San Girolamo, and del Carmine) and a rich art gallery. Few people know that Bagnacavallo has Italy’s largest antique print and etching collection, donated by one Vittore Ferroni and further enlarged in the following years. It is now housed in the Gabinetto delle Stampe. Today the Gabinetto edits and publishes the directory of Italian etchers, which includes the names of some 750 living artists. The second stop is Bagnara di Romagna and its 15thcentury turreted fortress, still in perfect condition. It has had a long list of owners: the Holy See, the Este, the Venetians, the Manfredi, the Sforza, and Pope Sistus IV again. Today it is the town hall and houses a historical archive containing rare texts dating back to the 17th century. Another Renaissance fortress is that of Lugo, a fine example of 16th-century fortified architecture. This is not the only highlight of Lugo: the whole old town centre has an 18th-century atmosphere and offers treasures such as the arcaded market square of the Pavaglione and a monument in honour of local aviation hero Francesco Baracca.
The city-fortress of Terra del Sole
The very name Terra del Sole (Land of the Sun) betrays the Renaissance utopian ideals that lay behind its conception. In fact, the village (close to Castrocaro Terme) was planned from scratch in the 15th century and is still intact. It was built by the Medici, archdukes of nearby Tuscany, and meant to be a fortified Ideal Town, a happy microcosm reflecting the perfection and harmony of the universal macrocosm. Terra del Sole or Heliopolis (Sun City) was designed and erected by the best team of architects of that time: Baldassarre Lanci from Urbino and his son Marino, Camerini, Buontalenti and Genga. The result was an administrative and military centre in the shape of a perfect rectangle surrounded by thick walls. Its cardus and decumanus divide the village into four symmetrical blocks, while the axis connecting the two gates marks the border of the two main divisions, the Roman and Florentinian borghi (ends). A star-shaped castle guards each of the two gates. In the centre of Terra del Sole there is a spacious drill ground (Piazza d’Armi) lined with monumental buildings such as the church of Santa Reparata, the Palazzo dei Commissari, the Palazzo dei Provveditori and the Palazzo della Provincia. Verdi Country One of the most typical itineraries around Parma includes the places where Giuseppe Verdi was born and lived. The legendary composer (1813-1901) was born in Busseto (38 km or some 24 miles from Parma) and never left his land, not even when he became rich and famous. As he often put it, "I will always be a peasant from Roncole". The starting point of this itinerary is precisely the maestro’s birthplace in Roncole Verdi, a suburb of Busseto, where Verdi spent his very fi rst years. A few rooms on the fi rst fl oor of a simple house and tavern have been refurnished with vintage furniture dating from the composer’s time. In larger Busseto virtually everything, except perhaps the collegiate church of San Bartolomeo and Villa Pallavicino, is dedicated to the maestro: a statue, Piazza Verdi and small Teatro Verdi, recently restored. Verdi moved here from Roncole at the age of 10, to go to a music school. He was the guest of the local grocer, Antonio Barezzi, and eventually married his daughter Margherita. Central Casa Barezzi still hold several relics of Verdi’s days, as does the Palazzo Orlandi, at that time the most aristocratic palace in town, bought by the maestro in 1845. Verdi lived here with his lover, the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, raising quite a scandal among the locals. The last stop of the itinerary is Villa Verdi in Sant’Agata, home to the composer from 1851 until he died in 1901.
The apex of Renaissance splendour: the Malatesta signory
Were there a hit chart of the best monuments of the Italian Renaissance, the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini would top it. This absolute must-see is perhaps the grandest symbol of the rule of the Malatesta dynasty over the local area. This building (in central Via IV Novembre, just off Piazza Cavour) was meant to be the mausoleum of powerful Sigismondo Malatesta, who had the older church of San Francesco demolished to make room for it. Sigismondo wanted the Temple to be the absolute wonder of his time, a status symbol that should have left his rivals agape with admiration and jealousy. To achieve this aim, in 1447 he called the greatest artists of the Renaissance: architect Leon Battista Alberti, who built the splendid marble facade; painter Piero della Francesca, who frescoed the walls; and sculptor Agostino di Duccio, the author of the reliefs inside. After Sigismondo fell into disrepute and was excommunicated in 1461, work stopped, never to be resumed again. Although incomplete, the Tempio Malatestiano is a magnifi cent building and holds several treasures of Renaissance art, including a wooden crucifi x painted by Giotto and the tombs of Sigismondo and his young lover and wife-to-be Isotta degli Atti.
