View of the Castello Estense.

The Castle Estense or Castle of Saint Michele (Italian Castello Estense) is an imposing, moated, medieval structure in the center of Ferrara. It is a large block with four corner towers. The Guelf family of Este had dominated Ferrara by 1264, but after a bloody rebellion in 1385, Niccolò II d'Este, for his safety, erected this castle-fortress. The towers were merlated with few windows but later radically modified, adding the Loggia of Oranges, and replacing the merlons with marble balconies. Inside there is quattrocentesque courtyard. There are various rooms decorated with frescoes of Bastianino. One of the more interesting rooms of the building is the private chapel of the protestant Renée of France, wife of duke Ercole II; also famous are the dungeons where she, spouse of Niccolò III d'Este had a tragic ending. With the end of the Este Family in 1597, the castle's fabulous art collection was dispersed. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 439 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Concerto delle donne Castello Estense ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 439 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Concerto delle donne Castello Estense ... Ferrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, capital city of the province of Ferrara. ... The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting, respectively, the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in Italy during the 12th century and 13th century. ... For Tolkiens fictional character, see Estë To know more about the city, see Este Este, Italian princely family, rulers of Ferrara (1240–1597), Modena and Reggio (1288–1796). ... Caernarfon Castle, Wales. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Renée of France (October 25, 1510 - June 12, 1574), also known as Renée de France and Renata di Francia. ... Ercole II dEste (April 5, 1508 - October 3, 1559) was Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio from 1534 to 1559. ... The dungeon of Bothwell Castle seen from the Great Hall A dungeon (derived from the Old French donjon, from the Latin dominus, lord), in its original medieval usage, was the keep, the main tower of a castle which formed the final defensive position the garrison could retreat to when outer...

Under Ercole II, the son of Alfonso I and Lucrezia Borgia, chief artists involved were Tommaso da Carpi, Battista Dossi, Tommaso da Treviso, il Garofalo, Camillo Filippi and Girolamo da Carpi. Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneziano, traditionally assumed to be Lucrezia Borgia. ... Several people have been named Garofalo: Il Garofalo (1481–1559), Italian painter Raffaele Garofalo (1851–1934), Italian jurist and criminologist Janeane Garofalo (born 1964), US entertainer and actress This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Girolamo Da Carpi (1501 - 1556) was the son of an Este’s court painter and decorator in Ferrara (Italy). ...

External links

• Official website (Italian) (English)