The Renaissance planned city — a moated castle downtown, palaces of diamonds, and more bicycles than anywhere in Italy.
Explore → Get Early Access30–45 min from Bologna by train
Castello Estense, drawbridges and all
Flat, walled, made for wandering
Rent one — everyone rides
Ferrara keeps a moated castle in its downtown, palaces faced with diamond-cut stone, nine kilometers of ridable walls, and more bicycles per capita than anywhere in Italy. Renaissance urban planning, still working.
The Este dynasty built the Castello Estense in 1385 after a tax revolt and, a century later, doubled the city with Europe's first planned Renaissance expansion — the 'Herculean Addition' that earned UNESCO listing.
Ferrara is called the 'city of bicycles' — cycling is genuinely the default transport, aided by pancake-flat streets and those wide walls. The local cappellacci di zucca (pumpkin pasta) was already on Este banquet menus in the 1500s.
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