Only places that are truly unique on a global scale are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The property “Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta” is the outcome of two successive inscriptions by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC). The first took place in 1995, at the 19th session of the WHC in Berlin, when, through Decision 19 COM VIII.C.1, the Committee approved the inscription on the World Heritage List of the property “Ferrara: City of the Renaissance”. At that time, the boundary encompassed the historic centre of Ferrara as defined by its city walls, as an outstanding example of a planned city that was to exercise a profound influence on urban planning for centuries.
Subsequently, in 1999, during the 23rd session of the WHC in Marrakesh, the Committee approved an extension of the property which, with Decision 23 COM VIII.C.2, took on its present name. The extension enlarged the property’s boundary to include the cultural landscape of the Po Delta which, in a constant balance between land and water, was planned during the period of greatest affirmation of the Este Duchy, with a network of canals, routes and villages whose key nodes were guarded by the Delizie (a network of ducal residences known as the Delizie), noble residences located outside the city.
In 2008, with Decision 32COM VIII.D approved during the 32nd session of the Committee held in Québec City, clarifications regarding the boundaries of the Site were acknowledged and the official cartography was adopted.Finally, in 2014, the Committee, meeting in Doha, Qatar, adopted through Decision 38 COM 8E the Retrospective Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (RSOUV) submitted by the State Party as an update of the property’s OUV. The RSOUV includes a brief synthesis of the inscribed property, the conditions of integrity and authenticity, and the protection and management requirements.
Statement of Outstanding Universal Value
Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta, located in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, together form an exceptional cultural landscape. The area includes the urban centre of Ferrara and the adjoining agricultural lands within the ancient and extensive Po River Delta.
The inscribed property reaches as far as the ring of defensive walls that first enclosed the historic urban centre of Ferrara in the 12th century. Over time, the encircling walls of the medieval town were extended to accommodate urban growth and today they encompass the medieval city, the Cathedral of San Giorgio and the Estense Castle. Between the 14th and 16th centuries, a series of urban planning schemes were implemented that made Ferrara the first Renaissance city to be developed on the basis of a complex urban plan. In this plan, the street grid and the system of walls were closely integrated with palaces, churches and gardens as part of an overall design which prioritised the harmonious arrangement of urban perspectives rather than the isolated enhancement of individual buildings.
The best-known of these schemes, the Addizione Erculea designed by Biagio Rossetti at the end of the 15th century, was among the earliest urban plans conceived around the idea of perspective – that is, balancing humanist principles of form and volume in architecture with open spaces, the needs of the city and local traditions.
The Po Delta has been inhabited for millennia. From the 14th to the 16th centuries, the ruling Este family carried out extensive land reclamation and building projects, which give this area a distinctive character, linked to Ferrara, the seat of the Este family.
The transformations carried out in the Ferrarese countryside during the Renaissance included: draining vast tracts of marshland, establishing castalderie (estates), creating new waterways and roads within the framework of an overall territorial plan, and constructing a network of noble residences known as the Delizie estensi (Este Delizie). This programme generated a new agricultural production system and led to the construction of ducal residences as a political manifestation of magnificence. These residences were conceived to reflect the image of the Court beyond the urban confines and again formed part of a process of integration and continuity between the city and the surrounding landscape. The original form of the Renaissance landscape of the Po River Delta remains recognisable in the region’s 21st-century configuration.
The history of the Renaissance city of Ferrara is closely bound up with the Este family and their rule. The city had already been an important medieval centre – a free commune with its own laws and even its own mint – but only under the Este did it become an internationally renowned capital of major artistic, economic, ideological and religious significance. For two centuries the court flourished in splendour and was on a par with cities such as Florence and Venice, as well as with other great European courts in France and Spain.
Artists such as Piero della Francesca, Mantegna and Michelangelo frequented and worked at the Este court. With the strong support they received from these artists, the Este created the first example of a studiolo, and their approach to collecting works of art became a model for both the Medici family and the Pope.
Criteria for inscription and justification for inscription
Criterion (ii): Developments in town planning expressed in Renaissance Ferrara had a profound influence on town design practice and planned preservation throughout the succeeding centuries. The Ferrarese architectural school (Biagio Rosetti, Girolamo da Carpi, Giambattista Aleotti, etc.) exported urban design views and elements such as walls and fortresses into the planning of other Italian and European cities.
Criterion (iii): The Este ducal residences in the Po Delta illustrate the influence of Renaissance culture on the natural landscape in an exceptional manner.
Criterion (iv): The historical town of Ferrara is an exceptional example of a Renaissance period town planning in which the layout and the architectural fabric have been preserved, and where the urban fabric is still intact.
Criterion (v): The Po Delta is an outstanding planned cultural landscape that retains its original form to a remarkable extent.
Criterion (vi): During the two seminal centuries of the Renaissance, the brilliant court of the Este family attracted the greatest contemporary artists, poets and philosophers, and it became a major centre for the development and practical application of “new humanism” in Italy.
Integrity
The 46,712 ha inscribed property, together with a 117,649 ha buffer zone, includes all the elements needed to understand the Renaissance cultural landscape of Ferrara and its Po Delta, which underpins its Outstanding Universal Value. The integrity of the property is evident both in the Renaissance layout of the city of Ferrara and in the changes and transformations that have shaped the surrounding agricultural landscape. The wholeness of Renaissance Ferrara can be seen in the medieval walls, in the forms of the 14th–16th-century town-planning schemes, in the surviving and largely original buildings, and in the well-preserved city layout, which is easily understood by visitors. The wider landscape of the World Heritage property is most clearly expressed in the remaining delizie, which bear witness to the land-transformation schemes undertaken during the period of Este rule.
Taken together, the Renaissance cultural landscape of Ferrara and the Po Delta forms a single historical whole. However, changing methods of cultivation, shifting economic priorities and the introduction of new infrastructure are all issues that will need to be addressed in a holistic way in order to maintain the conditions of integrity.
Authenticity
Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta is a cultural landscape that is exceptionally well preserved and remains authentic in its form and design, materials, setting, spirit and feeling. The originality of Ferrara’s urban fabric, together with its Renaissance design and layout features, makes it a clearly recognisable Renaissance city. Some of the delizie remain authentic in relation to their original large-estate settings and are in excellent condition following restoration work carried out since the 1970s. The relationships between Renaissance elements and the branches of the River Po (Po di Ferrara, Primaro, Volàno, Sandalo) are readily perceptible, and the ancient courses of these rivers and streams are still clearly visible today. Despite a long history of damage to the property, it continues to display truthfulness and credibility in its expression of Outstanding Universal Value.
Protection and management
The protection and management of Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta relies on cooperation between public institutions at different levels of government: national, regional, provincial and municipal.
The property is protected under national cultural heritage legislation, in particular the Codice dei Beni Culturali e del Paesaggio (Legislative Decree 42/2004). Local offices of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (Regional Management and Supervision) are responsible for monitoring compliance with this legislation.
At regional level, three specific planning instruments are in force. The Regional Landscape Plan (PTPR) establishes regulations concerning the historical and cultural identity of places and their surrounding landscapes. The Po Delta Park Plan is aimed at protecting areas of natural importance. The Provincial Territorial Plan (PTCP) identifies synergies and actions needed to develop traditional economic activities and tourism in ways that safeguard the character of the environment and countryside. This plan covers the extensive area that comprises both the inscribed property and its buffer zone.
In addition, the Municipality of Ferrara has an approved urban planning tool that designates the whole of the historic city within the walls as an area of cultural interest and consolidates the high level of protection that has been in place since 1975. Several programmes with specific objectives address the conservation of the Renaissance walls and the open spaces inside and outside the city walls.
Management of the property is coordinated through a multi-level governmental Site Steering Committee. The Committee is responsible for preparing and implementing the annual Management Plan. A key objective of the Management Plan is to increase public awareness, particularly among local residents and workers, of the extent of the property and its outstanding importance.Sustaining the property’s Outstanding Universal Value and maintaining its conditions of authenticity and integrity over time will require the creation of improved linkages and coordinated management between the urban landscape of Ferrara and the rural landscape of the network of Delizie; the strengthening of the regional regulatory regime so as to ensure effective control over land use, landscape transformation and infrastructure development; enhanced local awareness of the heritage values of the component properties and of the opportunities to enjoy the area’s heritage; and the definition of clear policies for the adaptive reuse of historic properties that have been abandoned or damaged. Furthermore, sufficient resources will need to be allocated for interventions to address the considerable damage caused by the May 2012 earthquakes, in particular to the city walls, the Estense Castle, the medieval cathedral, the Rocca (bastion) of Stellata and several other historic buildings.
Boundaries of the World Heritage property
“Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta” covers an area of 46,712 hectares, while the buffer zone extends over a total of 117,649 hectares.
The property is serial in character and consists of two separate components. The first (733bis-001 Ferrara) includes the historic centre of Ferrara and extends, through the branches of the River Po, as far as the Delta. This component, in addition to following the Volano, Sandalo and Primaro branches of the Po, widens at certain key elements that characterise the cultural landscape, among which are the Delizie. It also includes a broad area close to the Delta, extending southwards from the Castello della Mesola, and a second area within the territory of Comacchio.
In defining the boundary of the property, territorial formations attributable to the large-scale mechanised land-reclamation schemes of the later twentieth century were excluded, as were areas shaped by the action of the River Reno or other watercourses of Apennine origin (in the southern part of the Province of Ferrara). The second component (733-002 Diamantina) includes the Delizia della Diamantina and a wide tract of landscape to the west of Ferrara.The buffer zone has been drawn so as to protect the historic centre of Ferrara and the historic system of fortifications consisting of the walls and bastions. As regards the surrounding territory and the Po Delta, it can broadly be divided into four main parts: the area linking Diamantina to the western side of Ferrara; the area extending north of Ferrara as far as the Po, including the Parco Urbano and Fossadalbero; the area of the former course of the Po di Volano running from Ferrara to the sea, including the monastery of Pomposa, the Castello della Mesola and the Boschetto as far as the territory of La Mensa; and the areas encompassing the historic waterways radiating from Ferrara, both to the south – including the Delizie of Belriguardo, Benvignante and Verginese – and to the east as far as Comacchio.
Maps of the property and location of the components (source: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/733/)
