We drop the daughter off at the airport. She’s off to Sicily for a week to study Italian. It makes me feel more Italian, dropping someone off at the airport. And then we’re off to Ferrara for a night. It’s the first stop on our way down south. A grandiose city, grey and stern for me. It is a town of bikes, driving in I had to look all ways because they were everywhere.
There's an antique fair in the centre and a race as well. The town is happening. We go to the Estense castle, in the heart of the city and surrounded by a beautiful moat, very picturesque.
There is an amazing sculpture exhibition in the courtyard made by two women. ‘Women, horsemen, arms, love. Humanity. ‘ Battle scarred and crazed horses, women in armour tackling men or making love to them. It is surreal and incredible. Each copper animal and persons are made of hundreds of copper squares and terracotta. It’s life size and stunning.. It is about marginalisation and immigration and was inspired by Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto, written in 1516.
Then we go through the castle to find extensive damage from a recent earthquake with what looks like large quantities of sticky tape holding parts of it together. We go down into the prisons below and are glad to get back up into the light filled rooms and a gallery with a fantastic collection of interesting modern paintings.
My friend got an infection in his finger and it seemed worse since we left so he hired a bike in this town of bicycles and went to the hospital. They cleaned and dressed it and he returned in time for dinner.
We ate at Hostaria Sovaranola, a very old tavern. We had pumpkin mousse with a balsamic glaze and smoked ricotta and I had stuffed rabbit and the dessert was Pannacotta with an amaretti crumb. Excellent. Ps. Imagine buying your rice in a floral canvas bag! Love the little details in Italy.
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