THE PAST IS ONCE AGAIN PRESENT
Ferrara is still an undiscovered treasure of historical residences, an extraordinary heritage, where time appears to have stopped. To narrate for us today the unchangeable dimension of this city is Palazzo Gulinelli, an imposing building on the historic Via XX Settembre.
It is believed that, throughout its long history, Italy has been the setting to the more or less intricate human experiences of about 4,000 noble families. Each of these owned real estate properties and cultural heritage of immense worth, the memory of which continues to be alive and significant even today.
This applies to the majestic Palazzo Gulinelli in Ferrara, one of the symbols that testifies to the evolution undergone by the city itself. A historical residence of incredible architectural charm, which is still today in perfect condition and is protected by the ministry of cultural heritage. The road on which the Palazzo stands, already attests to an important piece of the city’s history. Of medieval origins, via XX Settembre dates back to a phase prior to the great urban revolution known as Addizione Erculea, or Erculean Addition. Said urban revolution consisted in the expansion of the city commissioned by Duke Ercole I d’este at the end of the 15th century, and which was brought to completion by his court architect Biagio Rossetti. It was the first development of its kind in terms of extension and structure, so much so that for many Ferrara became the first modern European city.
Via XX Settembre existed long before this futuristic project on the ancient riverbed of a dried up delta branch of the river Po di Primaro. It thus became an essential part of the area that connected the urban center that was now located
around the new cathedral of San Giorgio, to the former and more ancient settlement around the basilica of San Giorgio built outside the city walls. Immediately after it was designated as a new city street, Niccolò III d’este gave away the land on either side of the street to those who were interested in building their residences. The street soon became a privileged settlement area chosen by the local nobility and bourgeoisie.
It is here that the palazzo of the Gulinelli Counts was built in the seventeenth century. Well-known in Ferrara, the Gulinelli family stood out for the originality and variety of its cultural interests. Evidence of that unmistakable seventeenth-century taste are still jealously safeguarded in the wooden coffered ceiling of the entrance hall and of the attic. Following the trend in vogue in the new agrarian entrepreneurial middle class of giving a new face to palaces formerly owned by ancient city nobility that had now passed into their ownership, in the nineteenth century the building underwent a series of renovations. These were not radical architectural renovations but rather massive renovations of the interior decorations such as furnishings, stuccoes and above all frescoed vaults with a return to a Baroque classicism intended as an evolution and reiteration of the classical culture. Thus the “residenza dei Conti Gulinelli” was also enriched with gouache painted vaulted ceilings, in other words with the use of a particular variety of tempera painting, attributed to Francesco Migliari, an artist from Ferrara. These ennoble the rooms on the main floor and reinforce the imprint and importance of a classical culture revisited by Baroque. Comparable evidence may also be found in the marble portal of the main entrance, in the allegorical statues and in the columns of the entrance hall, just as in the imposing staircase leading to the “piano nobile”, or main floor, consisting of a central staircase which splits into two lateral staircases, each flanked by a series of balustrades. The least remarkable is the beauty of the “empire” style lacquered wooden doors with gilded decoration, and the ceiling of the servants’ dining room, made of embedded panels. The building’s noble vocation is also manifest in an internal wing located next to the extensive grounds which originally extended about 8,000 square meters and was intended for stables and court services.
Here, among centuries-old trees, a period fountain, and flower beds bordered by cobble stone paths, one may stop to contemplate the surroundings and breathe in the incredible amount of history that has taken place within these walls and walked on these grounds. A history that has changed the fate of the city and of the building itself, up until the last renovation works which took place in the 1970s.
The apartment on the “piano nobile” described in this article is for sale. For further information please write to: promotion@allaboutitaly.net