Ferrara and the Origin of Urban Planning
According to UNESCO World Heritage, the origin of urban planning can be traced back to 1492 in the town of Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna.
I visited Ferrara at the end of July, just before the inner city was taken over by the annual busker festival, and was kind of puzzled by the airy, open spaces and systematic neatness of the street plan. While most historic Italian cities have grown like a cobweb with a rather crowded centre, Ferrara spreads out along two principal and perpendicular axes. In the inner, mostly pedestrian city centre a string of public squares, courtyards and gardens connects the dominant palaces and churches which are surrounded by an extension made in a strictly controlled grid of streets and buildings. The two parts appear perfectly integrated.
The Ideal City
The city layout looks like – and is – the result of meticulous urban planning, as you can see in any modern town, but in Ferrara the planning was completed and implemented in 1492. Ferrara is the first realization of the humanist concept of the ideal city and the only planned Renaissance town to have been completed.
The design is attributed to a military engineer called Biagio Rossetti, who also built the extraordinary Palazzo dei Diamanti. He managed to balance the humanistic principles in architecture with local traditions and the physical needs of a city.
Broad streets in a matrix of straight lines helped improve hygiene and accessibility in the medieval town Ferrara.
Accommodation for the Lower Classes
The streets were extraordinarily wide and well leveled for medieval times, which made them better suited to heavy traffic – a recognized problem already 500 years ago. They crossed at more or less straight angles making crossroads less problematic. And central water supplies and sewers improved hygiene and drainage in case of flooding from the Po River nearby. Thus Ferrara became one of the first cities to offer decent accommodation to the lower and middle classes, who did not live with the clergy, bourgeoisie and aristocracy in the city centre.
The quiet predictability and functionality of the city plan makes a walk down Corso Ercole I D’Este in Rossetti’s addizione almost boring, but as soon as you cross the Largo Castello the city comes alive with lots of cafés, bars and gelaterie, where people gather for a drink and a chat after work.
Hi Mette,
How interesting. I had no idea the city was so carefully planned. Quite a feat for the time. Imagine the competing interests. It looks like 1492 was a big year in world history – Columbus sailed the ocean blue, the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and we can now add the advent of post-Roman Empire era urban planning . Indeed the improved sewers and wide, flat streets must have made life better for all, but especially, as you note, for the underclasses. I so enjoy your posts. Thanks for another great read.
What a beautiful post! I’ve been to the Emilia-Romagna for so many times but still learned a few new things while reading the article. Ferrara has been hit by the earthquake but luckily there is not much damage to the UNESCO world heritage. Let’s hope the Palio will be a blast and the people can celebrate their beautiful town.
Hi,
this is very interesting, and makes me want to go to Emilia Romagna!
There were definitely some forward thinking people centuries ago. It makes you wonder about our North American cities and their heavy reliance on cars. What form will they be in 500 years from now?
Thanks for all your positive feedback – And for calling my attention to the 1492 coincidence and the infrastructure worries for the future. You’ve certainly given me something to think about:D
How fascinating, I’ve not been to Ferrara – what a truly elegant city. I hope they get back on their feet soon.
Glad to hear that the damage to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites has been limited, I had no idea that Ferrara even was a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Who says a planned city can’t be beautiful…
Great post! Loved Ferrara. Spent a lot of time in Northern Italy on guidebooks over the years and Ferrara was one of the cities I’d always wished we could return to when we weren’t working. It’s highly underrated. It actually sees few tourists outside of the major events yet there’s a lively university life and a laidback local vibe that I find so appealing in Italian cities. Mantua is another favourite of mine that few people, bafflingly, linger in.
This is something worth sharing in our class. A city that withstood the test of time is due to the fact that it was METICULOUSLY planned. I love it when cities conjure up romantic metaphors, it just means it is a treasure. I am taking up Urban and Regional Planning here in Manila.
Never heard of this city. Good to know there are places in Italy where you won’t get lost the moment you step out of your hotel.
Wow I didn’t know tat about Ferrara. Im going back to Italy next Spring and I think I might add it to my list of places to go
It’s such a beautiful city! I was there a couple of days after the first earthquake and, thankfully, there wasn’t too much damage. It would have been such a shame if a place like Ferrara had been hit harder.
So that’s what you call urban planning. The city looks like it was planned very well. The streets look so clean and the people seem to have a normal happy life walking around the place.