Ferrara and Bologna celebrating Liberation Day

Need to publish a few odds and ends from Apri that never got done until now.

A short day trip to Ferrara a small town about 30 minutes from Bologna by train.  We ended up on the local, which took more like 45 minutes to an hour.  It was also late leaving Bologna.  Italy is not known for its on time trains.  

The old town of Ferrara is divided by a boulevard into Medieval and Renaissance.  Everything above the castle is renaissance and everything below is medieval.

It was run for centuries by the d'Este clan, who started out as barely concealed thugs but morphed into sophisticated Renaissance patrons, with an eye for town planning and an ear for fabulous music. 

In the middle of the divide stands the outrageous d'Este castle: half palace, half fortress, even down to its surrounding moat. Inside, under baroque sweetness lies a history of naked power. It was here, in 1425, in the marital bedchamber and the dungeons, that Niccolò d'Este had his second wife and her lover - his own son, Ugo - murdered for an alleged affair. This venting of medieval righteous anger is perhaps understandable until you learn that he himself boasted of sleeping with 800 women and that the chroniclers of the time talked of how, "left and right of the river Po, everywhere there are children by Niccolò".

We walked around the old medieval part of the city

1. Ferrara Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica.  Dedicated to Saint George, the patron saint of the city, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Ferrara and the largest religious building in the city. 

Sometine during our visit somebody placed beautiful flowers on the balcony of the basilica.

The medieval saide of town

almost as many bicycles as Amsterdam..... well maybe not, but a lot

We found a place to have lunch and then walked a bit more and stopped for a gelato.  Ran into a nice couple from Niagra-on-the-Lake, Canada.  He was a Scot and she was a Brit.  Nice coulple that we enjoyed chatting with over ice cream.  We then headed back for a little more walking and then back to the train station.

Bologna