At the heart of court life between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and a symbol of Este power, Palazzo Schifanoia is regarded as one of the earliest Delizie built by the Este family, in an area which at the end of the fourteenth century was still suburban, close to the old course of the Po.
Built in 1385 at the behest of Alberto V d’Este as a place of leisure – the name “Schifanoia” derives from schifar, that is “to escape boredom” – the palace underwent significant transformations over time: after an initial alteration in 1391, it was Borso d’Este who initiated its decisive enlargement. From 1466 onwards, to designs by the architect Pietro Benvenuto degli Ordini, a piano nobile (principal floor) was created to house reception rooms and a large hall, now known as the Hall of the Months (Salone dei Mesi), intended to welcome guests and the court and to exalt the dynasty, the duke and his political and social virtues.
This vast space, decorated between 1469 and 1470 by artists such as Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de’ Roberti, is an extraordinary secular calendar in which, through the stars, the pagan deities who preside over the months and scenes of everyday life, the greatness of the duchy and the good government of the prince are celebrated. Measuring 25 metres in length, 11 in width and seven and a half in height, it still preserves one of the largest secular fresco cycles of the Renaissance. To the same phase belong the adjoining Hall of Virtues (Sala delle Virtù) and the monumental marble portal, still the main entrance to the palace.
At the end of the century, in 1493, Schifanoia underwent its final enlargement at the hands of the architect Biagio Rossetti. It was Ercole I, Borso’s successor, who ordered the extension of the palace a further seven metres eastwards and its overall decorative modernisation. The merlons were removed and a terracotta cornice added; after the duke’s death the residence changed hands several times until it was granted to Francesco, fifth son of Alfonso I, and, on his death, to his daughter Marfisa.
The latter’s marriage to Alderano Cybo marked the final loss of the palace to Este ownership and the beginning of its decline. Sold in the seventeenth century to other Ferrarese noble families, from the eighteenth century onwards the building was subdivided and, as its condition deteriorated, was ultimately converted into a tobacco manufactory, with the consequent whitewashing of the walls of the Hall of the Months. Only from 1820, thanks to the persistence of the painter and restorer Giuseppe Saroli, did the fifteenth-century decorations begin to re-emerge, restoring to the building part of its former splendour.
Having become the seat of the Civic Museum in 1898 – today the Schifanoia Museum – the palace houses both the extraordinary Renaissance decorative schemes and some of the city’s most prestigious historical and artistic collections. Numerous twentieth-century restoration campaigns progressively enlarged the exhibition areas, up until 2021 when, following an extensive post-earthquake restoration and a complete reinstallation of its displays, the entire palace was devoted to the Museum and to its activities of research, conservation and public outreach.
