HOTEL BOOKING
HOSPITALITY
To secure the accommodation of your choice, you should register as early as possible. Click here for a list of hotels in Ferrara that will offer special room rates to I2SM attendees. For additional information, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
With regard to the technical visits to Venice, if you are looking for a comfortable stay in the most beautiful city in the world, please contact the travel agency Viaggi Estense at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
City information
http://www.ferraraterraeacqua.it/it/
Currency
The official currency in Italy is the Euro.
Time
Italy is in the European Time Zone. During summer season, local time is GMT/UTC +1 hour.
Electricity
The voltage used throughout Italy is uniformly 220 volts, like in Europe.
Weather
The maximum temperature in September in Ferrara is abut 26°.
Public transport
Ticket cost, bus line maps and timetables available on website: http://www.tper.it/.
FERRARA
Ferrara, which grew up around a ford over the River Po, became an intellectual and artistic centre that attracted the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here, Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini and Andrea Mantegna decorated the palaces of the House of Este. The humanist concept of the 'ideal city' came to life here in the neighbourhoods built from 1492 onwards by Biagio Rossetti according to the new principles of perspective. The completion of this project marked the birth of modern town planning and influenced its subsequent development.
A treasure chest of art and history, Ferrara is surrounded by the green of the plains and it is characterized by a timeless atmosphere that has long attracted visitors and still fascinates today. It is an extremely evocative city, whose intact historical centre has been declared UNESCO World Heritage site as a remarkable example of Renaissance urban planning.
An unmistakable symbol of the city is the Estense Castle, a fortress built in 1385 to defend the Este seigniory threatened by public revolt, and then quickly transformed into a lordly residence embellished by richly decorated halls.
Ferrara is one of the cities with the highest number of bicycles in the world, and you can hire one of these, or walk if you prefer, to ride around the still intact ancient walls surrounding the city.
Local gastronomy
The culinary culture of the Ferrara people, famous for banquet organizations by the court chef Cristoforo da Messisbugo, has influenced the taste of the entire Europe. Among the traditional recipes there are: cappellacci (a type of ravioli stuffed with pumpkin), pasticcio di maccheroni (oven baked maccheroni), salamina da sugo (soft spicy salami), to be enjoyed with mashed potatoes or pumpkin, and pampapato – a Christmas cake with chocolate and candied fruits.
You cannot leave without tasting the delicious Ferrara bread, the “coppia” shaped as a butterfly, with a soft central body and four crunchy croutons.
