Palazzina Marfisa d'Este

Palazzina Marfisa d'Este

The Palazzina Marfisa d’Este is a Renaissance-style small palace, once suburban, and sometimes referred to as a villa, located on Corso Giovecca #170, just east of Central Ferrara, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

History

The palace is best known for its former owner. Marfisa was one of two illegitimate daughters of the mercurial Francesco d’Este, Marquis of Massalombarda. Francesco was the second son to Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and Lucrezia Borgia. Marfisa, born circa 1554, was named after one of the characters of the epic Orlando Furioso; she was legitimized by Pope Gregory XIII in 1573. Her first marriage was short lived to Alfonsino d’Este, her next marriage, to Alderano Cybo-Malaspina, lasted for over two decades.

Upon the death of both her father and uncle, Ercole II d'Este, both without male heirs- she was not allowed to take on the lordship of any of the Este properties. However, she also escaped exile and remained as nearly the only Este descendant able to reside in Ferrara, living in this villa till her death in 1608.

After Marfisa's death, the palazzina passed on to the Cybo-Malaspina family until 1861, when it became property of the city. The palace fell into disrepair and the movable artwork and furniture was sold. In 1910, restoration began to make it a museum, which opened in 1938.

Art and Architecture

The palace now presents a low, long brick facade on a busy street, not highly distinctive except for its prominent portal. It was constructed in 1559 by the peripatetic Marchese Francesco, and inherited by his daughter in 1578.

The interior rooms have ceilings frescoed with grottesche and mythologic scenes. The furniture, while befitting the epoch, is not original. In the palazzina is housed a marble bust of Duke Ercole I d’Este, a work of the 15th-century. In the logetta are portrait putatively of Marfisa and her sister Bradamante, as young girls. La Palazzina has a number of rooms : Sala delle Imprese, Sala di Fetonte (Phaeton), Sala dei Banchetti, Sala Grande, Sala del Camino, Loggetta dei Ritratti and a Studiolo.

Gardens

Formerly the gardens extended further, abutting the Palazzo Bonacossi. By 1938, much of the garden was occupied by the Tennis Club Marfisa. The remaining gardens and grounds were re-arranged somewhat. At the center was a fountain, with cherub bronze sculptor Giuseppe Virgili.

Across the garden and fountain is a loggia with the ceiling frescoed with a vine arbor with grapes, and peering animals such as birds squirrels, and monkeys. It was restored in 1938 by the painter Augusto Pagliarini.

It is said that in this loggia was first represented l'Aminta by Torquato Tasso, a friend of Marfisa.

Legends

Supernatural and salaciously macabre stories regarding Marfisa are circulated; they arose perhaps concocted to the visitor not satisfied with mere Renaissance decoration.They include fanatastical stories that Marfisa enjoyed post-mortem rides through the city at midnight in a wolf-drawn carriage. Other stories implied that Marfisa would lure young men to this palace and then kill them. The reality was far more mundane, since Marfisa died but a few years after her husband of more than two decades.