Ferrara
—  Comune  —
Comune di Ferrara
The Castle Estense
Coat of arms
Location in the Province of Ferrara
Ferrara Location of Ferrara in Italy
Coordinates: 44°50′N 11°37′E / 44.833°N 11.617°E / 44.833; 11.617Coordinates: 44°50′N 11°37′E / 44.833°N 11.617°E / 44.833; 11.617
Country	Italy
Region	Emilia-Romagna
Province	Ferrara (FE)
Frazioni	Aguscello, Albarea, Baura, Boara, Borgo Scoline, Bova, Casaglia, Cassana, Castel Trivellino, Chiesuol del Fosso, Cocomaro di Cona, Cocomaro di Focomorto, Codrea, Cona, Contrapò, Corlo, Correggio, Denore, Focomorto, Francolino, Gaibana, Gaibanella, Sant'Egidio, Malborghetto di Boara, Malborghetto di Correggio, Marrara, Mezzavia, Monestirolo, Montalbano, Parasacco, Pescara, Pontegradella, Pontelagoscuro, Ponte Travagli, Porotto, Porporana, Quartesana, Ravalle, Sabbioni, San Bartolomeo in Bosco, San Martino, Spinazzino, Torre della Fossa, Uccellino, Viconovo, Villanova
Government
• Mayor	Tiziano Tagliani (Democratic Party)
Area
• Total	404.36 km2 (156.12 sq mi)
Elevation	9 m (30 ft)
Population (30 November 2008)
• Total	134,425
• Density	330/km2 (860/sq mi)
Demonym	Ferraresi
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	44121 to 44124
Dialing code	0532
Patron saint	St. George
Saint day	April 23
Website	Official website

Ferrara  listen (help·info) is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces dating from the 14th century and 15th century, when it hosted the court of the House of Este. For its beauty and cultural importance it has been qualified by UNESCO as World Heritage Site. Modern times have brought a renewal of industrial activity. Ferrara is on the main rail line from Bologna to Padua and Venice, and has branches to Ravenna, Poggio Rusco (for Suzzara) and Codigoro. In 2006, due to its important historical significance, Ferrara became the headquarters of the Italian Hermitage Museum. It is the fifth city in the world to have been linked with the Russian museum. From this union was born the Hermitage-Italy Foundation.^[1]

History[link]

Middle Ages[link]

Ferrara, walled and moated, ca 1600.

Ferrara City Hall.

The origin of Ferrara is uncertain, it was probably settled by the inhabitants of the lagoons at the mouth of Po river; there are two early centers of settlement, one round the cathedral,^[2] the other, the castrum bizantino, being the San Pietro district, on the opposite shore, where the Primaro empties into the Volano channel. Ferrara appears first in a document of the Lombard king Desiderius of 753 AD,^[3] as a city forming part of the Exarchate of Ravenna. Desiderius pledged a Lombard ducatus ferrariae ("Duchy of Ferrara") in 757 to Pope Stephen II. After 984 it was a fief of Tedaldo, count of Modena and Canossa, nephew of the emperor Otto I. It afterwards made itself independent, and in 1101 was taken by siege by the countess Matilda. At this time it was mainly dominated by several great families, among them the prominent Adelardi (or Aleardi) family.

In 1146, Guglielmo II of Adelardi, the last of the House of Adelardi, died, and his property passed, as the dowry of his niece the Marchesella, to Obizzo I of Este. There was considerable hostility between the newly entered family and the prominent Salinguerra family, but after considerable struggles Azzo VII of Este was nominated perpetual podestà in 1242; in 1259 he took Ezzelino of Verona prisoner in battle. His grandson, Obizzo II (1264–1293), succeeded him, and he was made perpetual lord of the city by the population. The House of Este was from henceforth settled in Ferrara. In 1289 he was also chosen as lord of Modena, one year later he was made lord of Reggio. Niccolò III (1393–1441) received several popes with great magnificence, especially Eugene IV, who held a council here in 1438. His son Borso received the title of duke for the imperial fiefs of Modena and Reggio from Emperor Frederick III in 1452 (in which year Girolamo Savonarola was born here), and in 1471 was made duke of Ferrara by Pope Paul II. Ercole I (1471–1505) carried on a war with Venice and increased the magnificence of the city.

Renaissance[link]

Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto, traditionally assumed to be Lucrezia Borgia.

During the reign of Ercole d'Este I, one of the most significant patrons of the arts in late 15th and early 16th century Italy after the Medici, Ferrara grew into a cultural center, renowned for music as well as for visual arts. The painters established links with Flemish artists and their techniques, exchanging influences in the colors and composition choices. Composers came to Ferrara from many parts of Europe, especially France and Flanders; Josquin Des Prez worked for Duke Ercole for a time (producing the Missa Hercules dux Ferrariæ, which he wrote for him); Jacob Obrecht came to Ferrara twice (and died during an outbreak of plague there in 1505); and Antoine Brumel served as principal musician from 1505. Alfonso I, son of Ercole, was also an important patron; his preference for instrumental music resulted in Ferrara becoming an important center of composition for the lute. The architecture of Ferrara benefitted from the genius of Biagio Rossetti, who was asked in 1484 by Ercole I to redesign the plan of the city. The resulting "Addizione Erculea" is one of the most important and beautiful examples of renaissance city planning and contributed to the selection of Ferrara as UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Alfonso married the notorious Lucrezia Borgia, and continued the war with Venice with success. In 1509 he was excommunicated by Pope Julius II, and he overcame the pontifical army in 1512 defending Ravenna. Lucrezia, together with other members of the Este house, is buried in the convent of Corpus Domini.

Gaston de Foix fell in the battle, in which he was supporting Alfonso. With the succeeding popes he was able to make peace. He was the patron of Ariosto from 1518 onwards. His son Ercole II married Renée of France, daughter of Louis XII of France; he too embellished Ferrara during his reign (1534–1559).

Torquato Tasso in the St. Ann's hospital of Ferrara, by Eugène Delacroix.

His son Alfonso II married Lucrezia, daughter of grand-duke Cosimo I of Tuscany, then Barbara, sister of the emperor Maximilian II and finally Margherita Gonzaga, daughter of the duke of Mantua. He raised the glory of Ferrara to its highest point, and was the patron of Tasso, Guarini, and Cremonini – favouring, as the princes of his house had always done, the arts and sciences. During the reign of Alfonso II, Ferrara once again developed an opulent court with an impressive musical establishment, rivaled in Italy only by the adjacent city of Venice, and the traditional musical centers such as Rome, Florence and Milan. Composers such as Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Lodovico Agostini, and later Carlo Gesualdo, represented the avant-garde tendency of the composers there, writing for gifted virtuoso performers, including the famous concerto di donne — the three virtuoso female singers Laura Peverara, Anna Guarini, and Livia d'Arco. Vincenzo Galilei praised the work of Luzzaschi, and Girolamo Frescobaldi studied with him.

The city was much affected by the 1570 Ferrara earthquake.

Alfonso had no legitimate male heir, and in 1597 Ferrara was claimed as a vacant fief by Pope Clement VIII, as was also Comacchio.

Modern history[link]

Ferrara remained a part of the Papal States from 1598 to 1859, when it became part of the Kingdom of Italy. A fortress was constructed by Pope Paul V on the site of the castle called "Castel Tedaldo", at the south-west angle of the town, that was occupied by an Austrian garrison from 1832 until 1859. All of the fortress was dismantled following the birth of the Kingdom of Italy and the bricks used for new constructions all over the town.

On August 23, 1944, the Ferrara synthetic rubber plant was a target of Strategic bombing during World War II.

Main sights[link]

The medieval walls.

The Castle Estense.

The Romanesque cathedral.

Palazzo dei Diamanti, seat of the National Gallery.

Palazzo Schifanoia.

The Certosa of Ferrara.

Piazza Ariostea.

The town is still surrounded by more than 9 kilometres of ancient walls, mainly built in the 15th and 16th centuries.^[4] Together with those of Lucca, they are the best preserved Renaissance walls in Italy.

The most iconic building of the town is the imponent Castello Estense: sited in the very centre of the town, it's a brick building surrounded by a moat, with four massive bastions. It was built starting in 1385 and partly restored in 1554; the pavilions on the top of the towers date from the latter year.

The ancient City Hall, renovated in the 18th century, was the earlier residence of the Este family. Close by it is the former Cathedral of Saint George, begun in 1135, when the Romanesque lower part of the main façade and the side façades were completed. According to a now lost inscription the church was built in 1135 by Guglielmo I of Adelardi (d. 1146), who is buried in it. The sculpture of the main portal is the signed work of the "artifex" Nicholaus, mentioned in the lost inscription as the "architect" for the church. The upper part of the main façade, with arcades of pointed arches, dates from the 13th century, while the lower part of the protiro or projecting porch and the main portal are by Nicholaus. The recumbent lions guarding the entrance are replacements of the originals, now in the narthex of the church. The elaborate reflief sculptures depicting Last Judgement gracing the second story of the porch above date from the thirteenth century. The interior was restored in the baroque style in 1712. The campanile, in the Renaissance style, dates from 1451–1493, but the last storey was added at the end of the 16th century.

A little way off is the university, which has faculties of law, architecture, pharmacy, medicine and natural science; the library has valuable manuscripts, including part of that of the Orlando furioso and letters by Tasso. Its famous graduates include Nicolaus Copernicus (1503) and Paracelsus. Near the main university facilities it raises the University of Ferrara Botanic Garden.

Ferrara has many early Renaissance palaces, often retaining terracotta decorations; few towns of Italy as small have so many, though most are comparatively small in size. Among them may be noted those in the north quarter (especially the four at the intersection of its two main streets), which was added by Ercole I in 1492–1505, from the plans of Biagio Rossetti, and hence called the Addizione Erculea.

Among the finest palaces is Palazzo dei Diamanti (Diamond Palace), named after the diamond points into which the façade's stone blocks are cut. The palazzo houses the National Picture Gallery, with a large collection of the school of Ferrara, which first rose to prominence in the latter half of the 15th century, with Cosimo Tura, Francesco Cossa and Ercole dei Roberti. Noted masters of the 16th century School of Ferrara (Painting) include Lorenzo Costa and Dosso Dossi, the most eminent of all, Girolamo da Carpi and Benvenuto Tisi (il Garofalo).

The Casa Romei is the best preserved Renaissance building in Ferrara. It was the residence of Giovanni Romei, related to Este family by marriage to Polissena d'Este and likely the work of the court architect Pietro Bono Brasavola. It did not fall into decay because it was inherited by the nuns of the Corpus Domini order who lived there without making any changes to its structure. Much of the decoration in the inner rooms has been saved. There are fresco cycles in the Sala delle Sibille (Room of Sibyls), with its original terracotta fireplace bearing the coat of arms of Giovanni Romei, in the adjoining Saletta dei Profeti (Room of the Prophets), depicting allegories from the Bible and in other rooms, some of which were commissioned by cardinal Ippolito d'Este and painted by the school of Camillo and Cesare Filippi (16th century).

The Palazzo Schifanoia (sans souci) was built in 1385 for Alberto V d'Este. The palazzo includes frescoes depicting the life of Borso d'Este, the signs of the zodiac and allegorical representations of the months. The vestibule was decorated with stucco mouldings by Domenico di Paris. The building also contains fine choir-books with miniatures and a collection of coins and Renaissance medals.

The City Historical Archives contain a relevant amount of historical documents, starting from 15th century. The Diocesan Historical Archive is more ancient, mentioned in documents in A.D. 955, and contains precious documents collected across the centuries by the clergy.

The Corpus Domini Monastery contains tombs of the House of Este, including Alfonso I, Alfonso II, Ercole I, Ercole II, as well as Lucrezia Borgia, Eleanor of Aragon, and many more.

The Ferrara Synagogue and Jewish Museum are located in the heart of the mediæval centre, close to the cathedral and the Castello Estense. This street was part of the Jewish Quarter in which the Jews were separated from the rest of the population of Ferrara from 1627 to 1859.

Other sites include:

• Piazza Ariostea
• The Communal Theatre
• The Certosa
• The church of Santa Maria in Vado
• The church of St. Luca
• The church of St. Benedict
• The church of St. Charles
• The church of St. Cristopher
• The church of St. Dominic
• The church of St. Francis
• The church of St. George
• The church of St. Paul
• The church of St. Roman
• The house of the poet Ludovico Ariosto, erected by him after 1526 and in which he died in 1532.
• The Massari gardens
• The monastery of Sant'Antionio in Polesine
• The Palace of Ludovico il Moro
• The Palazzina di Marfisa d'Este

Demographics[link]

In 2007, there were 133,591 people residing in Ferrara, of whom 46.8% were male and 53.2% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 12.28 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 26.41%. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06% (minors) and 19.94% (pensioners). The average age of Ferrara residents is 49 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Ferrara grew by 2.28%, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85%.^[5] The current birth rate of Ferrara is 7.02 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births. Ferrara is known as being the oldest city with a population over 100,000, as well the city with lowest birth rate.

As of 2006, 95.59% of the population was Italian. The largest immigrant group was other European nations (mostly from the Ukraine, and Albania: 2.59%) North Africa: 0.51%, and East Asia: 0.39%. The city is predominantly Roman Catholic, with small Orthodox Christian adherents. The historical Jewish community is still surviving.

Jewish community[link]

The Jewish community of Ferrara is the only one in Emilia Romagna with a continuous presence from the Middle Ages to the present day. It played an important role when Ferrara enjoyed its greatest splendor in the 15th and 16th century, with the duke Ercole I d'Este. The situation of the Jews deteriorated in 1598, when the Este dynasty moved to Modena and the city came under papal control. The Jewish settlement, located in three streets forming a triangle near the cathedral, became a ghetto in 1627. Apart from a few years under Napoleon and during the 1848 revolution, the ghetto lasted until Italian unification in 1859. After racial laws of 1938 segregation was reintroduced and lasted until the end of the Nazi occupation.

In 1799, the Jewish community saved the city from sacking by troops of the Holy Roman Empire. During the spring of 1799, the city had fallen into the hands of the Republic of France, which established a small garrison there. On 15 April, Lieutenant Field Marshal Johann von Klenau approached the fortress with a modest mixed force of Austrian cavalry, artillery and infantry augmented by Italian peasant rebels, commanded by Count Antonio Bardaniand and demanded its capitulation. The commander refused. Klenau blockaded the city, leaving a small group of artillery and troops to continue the siege.^[6] For the next three days, Klenau patrolled the countryside, capturing the surrounding strategic points of Lagoscuro, Borgoforte and the Mirandola fortress. The besieged garrison made several sorties from the Saint Paul's Gate, which were repulsed by the insurgent peasants. The French attempted two rescues of the beleaguered fortress: the first, on 24 April, when a force of 400 Modenese was repulsed at Mirandola. In the second, General Montrichard tried to raise the city-blockade by advancing with a force of 4,000. Finally, at the end of the month, a column led by Pierre-Augustin Hulin reached and relieved the fortress.^[7]

Klenau took possession of the town on 21 May, and garrisoned it with a light battalion. The Jewish residents of Ferrara paid 30,000 ducats to prevent the pillage of the city by Klenau's forces; this was used to pay the wages of Gardani's troops.^[8] Although Klenau held the town, the French still possessed the town's fortress. After making the standard request for surrender at 0800, which was refused, Klenau ordered a barrage from his mortars and howitzers. After two magazines caught fire, the commandant was summoned again to surrender; there was some delay, but a flag of truce was sent at 2100, and the capitulation was concluded at 0100 the next day. Upon taking possession of the fortress, Klenau found 75 new artillery pieces, plus ammunition and six months worth of provisions.^[9]

Culture[link]

Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Country	Italy
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iii, iv, v, vi
Reference	733
Region **	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1995 (19th Session)
Extensions	1999
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

Literature[link]

The Renaissance literary men and poets Torquato Tasso (author of Jerusalem Delivered), Ludovico Ariosto (author of the romantic epic poem Orlando Furioso) and Matteo Maria Boiardo (author of the grandiose poem of chivalry and romance Orlando Innamorato), lived and worked at the court of Ferrara during the 15th and 16th century.

The Ferrara Bible was a 1553 publication of the Ladino version of the Tanach used by Sephardi Jews. It was paid for and made by Yom-Tob ben Levi Athias (the Spanish Marrano Jerónimo de Vargas, as typographer) and Abraham ben Salomon Usque (the Portuguese Jew Duarte Pinhel, as translator), and was dedicated to Ercole II d'Este. In the 20th century Ferrara was the home and workplace of writer Giorgio Bassani, well known for his novels that were often adapted for cinema (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Long Night in 1943). In historical fiction, British author Sarah Dunant set her 2009 novel Sacred Hearts in a convent in Ferrara.

Painting[link]

During the Renaissance, the House of Este, well known for its partonage of the arts, welcomed a great number of artists, especially painters, that formed the so-called School of Ferrara. The astounding list of painters and artists includes the names of Andrea Mantegna, Vicino da Ferrara, Giovanni Bellini, Leon Battista Alberti, Pisanello, Piero della Francesca, Battista Dossi, Dosso Dossi, Cosmé Tura, Francesco del Cossa and Titian. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Ferrara hosted and inspired a number of important painters who grew fond of its eerie atmosphere: among them Giovanni Boldini, Filippo de Pisis and Giorgio de Chirico.

Religion[link]

Ferrara gave birth to Girolamo Savonarola, the famous medieval Dominican priest and leader of Florence from 1494 until his execution in 1498. He was known for his book burning, destruction of what he considered immoral art, and hostility to the Renaissance. He vehemently preached against the moral corruption of much of the clergy at the time, and his main opponent was Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia).

Music[link]

The Ferrarese musician Girolamo Frescobaldi was one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. His masterpiece Fiori musicali (Musical Flowers) is a collection of liturgical organ music first published in 1635. It became the most famous of Frescobaldi's works and was studied centuries after his death by numerous composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach.^[10][11] Maurizio Moro (15??—16??) an Italian poet of the 16th century best known for madrigals is thought to have been born in Ferrara.

Cinema[link]

Ferrara is the birthplace and childhood home of the well-known Italian film director, Michelangelo Antonioni. The town of Ferrara was also the setting of the famous film The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Vittorio De Sica in (1970), that tells the vicissitudes of a rich Jewish family during the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini and World War II. Furthermore, Wim Wenders and Michelangelo Antonioni's Beyond the Clouds in (1995) and Ermanno Olmi's The Profession of Arms in (2001), a film about the last days of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, were also shot in Ferrara.

Corso Ercole I d'Este, Street in the Renaissance town center of Ferrara, Italy

Festivals[link]

The Palio of St. George is a typical medieval festival held every last Sunday of May. The Buskers Festival is a non-competitive parade of the best street musicians in the world. In terms of tradition and dimension it is the most important festival in the world of this kind. Additionally, Ferrara is becoming the Italian capital of hot air balloons, thanks to the ten-day-long Ferrara Balloons Festival, the biggest celebration of balloons in Italy and one of the largest in Europe.

Sport[link]

Ferrara's local football team, Società Polisportiva Ars Et Labor 1907 is going to play in Lega Pro Prima Divisione (former Serie C1), which is the third highest football league in Italy. The local basketball team, Carife Ferrara, have been doing considerably better; they won the 2007-08 title in the second-level LegADue, thereby earning promotion to Serie A. The city is hosting the Ferrara Marathon since 1979.

Culinary tradition[link]

The cooking tradition of the town is characterized by many typical dishes that can be traced back to the Middle Ages and reveals in some instances the influence of the important Jewish community. The signature first course is cappellacci di zucca, a kind of ravioli with a filling of butternut squash, Parmigiano-Reggiano and flavored with nutmeg. It is served with a sauce of butter and sage. The traditional Christmas first dish is cappelletti, meat-filled ravioli served in chicken broth or with a white sauce made from cream and, optionally, local truffles. A peculiar first dish is the pasticcio di maccheroni, a domed macaroni pie, consisting of a crust of sweet dough enclosing macaroni in a Béchamel sauce, studded with porcini mushrooms and ragù bolognese. The second course that is a must of the Christmas table is the Salama da sugo, a one-year old dry salami made from a special selection of pork meat, spices and red wine. Seafood is an important part of the town tradition, due to the vicinity to the sea, and grilled or stewed eel from the river Po delta is especially appreciated. In the Ferrara's pantry you can also find a kosher salami, made of goose meat stuffed in goose neck skin. The Christmas traditional dessert is a chocolat pie, the pampepato, and the zuppa inglese. The clay terroir of the area, an alluvial plain created by the river Po, is not ideal for wine; a notable exception is the Vini del Bosco Eliceo (DOC), made from grapes cultivated on the sandy coast line. The typical bread, called coppia ferrarese, has been awarded the IGP (Protected Geographical Status) label .

Transport[link]

Ferrara railway station, opened in 1862, forms part of the Padua–Bologna railway. It is also a terminus of three secondary railways, linking Modena with Ravenna and Rimini, Suzzara, and Codigoro, respectively. The station is located at Piazzale della Stazione, at the northwestern edge of the city centre.

International relations[link]

Twin towns — Sister cities[link]

Ferrara is twinned with:

Politics[link]

The last municipal elections was held on June 21 and 22, 2009, resulting in the election of Tiziano Tagliani (Democratic Party) as Mayor of the city of Ferrara. The division of the 40 seats in the city council is as followed:

• Democratic Party - 21
• The People of Freedom - 8
• Lega Nord - 2
• Italy of Values - 1
• Laici Riformisti - 1
• Sinistra Aperta per Ferrara - 1

Notes[link]

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

• Acerbi, Enrico. "The 1799 Campaign in Italy: Klenau and Ott Vanguards and the Coalition’s Left Wing April - June 1799". Napoleon Series, Robert Burnham, editor in chief. March 2008. Accessed 30 October 2009.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ferrara

• Official Tourism Office Site - in six languages
• Official website
• Search engine and index of websites related to Ferrara
• The Comunale Theatre
• Ferrara Balloons Festival - the biggest Hot Air Balloons Fiesta in Italy
• Ferrara Under the Stars - The most important Italian summer music festival
• Ferrara Buskers' Festival
• Palazzo dei Diamanti - Ferrara National Museum of Art
• The University of Ferrara
• Local Newspaper

v t e World Heritage Sites in Italy North West Crespi d'Adda Genoa Mantua and Sabbioneta Portovenere Cinque Terre (Monterosso al Mare Vernazza Corniglia Manarola Riomaggiore), Palmaria Tino and Tinetto Residences of the Royal House of Savoy Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes1 Rock Drawings in Valcamonica Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan Monte San Giorgio North East Aquileia Botanical Garden, Padua Cathedral Torre Civica and Piazza Grande, Modena The Dolomites Ferrara Ravenna Venice Verona Vicenza and Palladian Villas of the Veneto Centre Assisi Cerveteri and Tarquinia Florence Hadrian's Villa Piazza del Duomo, Pisa Pienza Rome2 San Gimignano Siena Urbino Val d'Orcia Villa d'Este South Alberobello Amalfi Coast Castel del Monte Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park Paestum and Velia Certosa di Padula Naples Palace of Caserta Aqueduct of Vanvitelli and San Leucio Complex Pompeii Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata Sassi of Matera Islands Aeolian Islands Archaeological Area of Agrigento Barumini nuraghes Syracuse and Necropolis of Pantalica Val di Noto (Caltagirone Militello in Val di Catania Catania Modica Noto Palazzolo Acreide Ragusa Scicli) Villa Romana del Casale Nationwide Longobards in Italy, Places of Power (568-774 A.D.) Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps3 1 Shared with Switzerland 2 Shared with the Holy See 3 Shared with Austria, France, Germany, Slovenia, and Switzerland

Antonio Ferrara (born April 4, 1912 in San Fernando) was an Argentine professional football player. He also held Italian citizenship.

His older brother Nicola Ferrara also played football professionally (including 3 seasons in the Serie A on the same teams as Antonio). To distinguish them, Nicola was known as Ferrara I and Antonio as Ferrara II.

Honours[link]

• Serie A champion: 1937/38.

External links[link]

• Profile at Playerhistory.com

This biographical article related to an Argentine association football midfielder is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

Onorevole Antonio Di Pietro
Minister of Infrastructures
In office May 17, 2006 – May 8, 2008
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Deputy	Angelo Capodicasa
Preceded by	Pietro Lunardi
Succeeded by	Altero Matteoli
Minister of Public Works
In office May 17, 1996 – November 20, 1996
Prime Minister	Romano Prodi
Preceded by	Paolo Baratta
Succeeded by	Paolo Costa
Personal details
Born	(1950-10-02) October 2, 1950 (age 61) Montenero di Bisaccia, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Political party	Italia dei Valori
Profession	Politician Judge

Antonio Di Pietro (born October 2, 1950) is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government. He was a prosecutor in the team known in Italy as Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) in the early 1990s.

Prosecutor[link]

Born into a poor rural family from Montenero di Bisaccia (Molise), as a very young man Di Pietro would go to Germany to work in the morning in a factory and in the afternoon in a sawmill in order to pay for his studies. Back in Italy, he graduated from night school^[1] with a degree in law in 1978 and was admitted to serve as a police officer. After a few years, he started a judicial career as a prosecutor.^[2][3]

Mani Pulite[link]

In February 1991, Di Pietro began investigating Milan's politicians and business leaders for corruption and kickbacks.^[4] Together with other well-known magistrates such as Francesco Saverio Borrelli, Ilda Boccassini, Gherardo Colombo, and Piercamillo Davigo, he worked on the Mani Pulite ("Clean Hands") team, which investigated political corruption.^[5] As part of this team, he investigated hundreds of local and national politicians, all the way up to the most important national political figures, including Bettino Craxi.^[1] The Italian press named the investigation "Tangentopoli" ("Bribesville").^[6]

He soon became the most popular of the Mani Pulite judges, due to his peculiar way of speaking, with a number of dialectal inflections and expressions, coupled with a pronounced accent and a determined disposition.

When the Tangentopoli investigation focused on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Di Pietro became the focus of a slander campaign and strong political pressure, leading him to resign from the judiciary.^[4]

Use of technology[link]

Di Pietro was also known for being one of the first Italian prosecutors to use digital technologies in his work, using computers and visual presentations, which raised some protests (for example, by advocate Guido Spazzali).^{[citation needed]} Di Pietro soon became interested in information technology (IT), and used it actively in his work. Instead of taking classics—in Italy, the usual high-school education for lawyers—he had studied to become an electronics technician (though he has never taken a computer course).^[7] He still maintains an interest in IT, with his blog^[8] and YouTube conferences.

Once he uttered a famous sentence to describe his own behaviour: "As a bricklayer I tried to build my walls straight, as a policeman I tried to arrest criminals, and as a judge I tried to bring people to trial when there was good reason to do so."^{[citation needed]}

Minister[link]

After the Mani Pulite investigations resulted in the disbandment of the previous ruling parties (first of all, Democrazia Cristiana), Di Pietro was called into Romano Prodi's new governing team as minister for Public Works,^[4] with responsibility for the areas most affected by bribery—all the initiatives financed by the state. Here he tried to impose a controversial project which would have doubled the main national motorway between Bologna and Florence. It provoked violent opposition by inhabitants of the interested areas. Ecologists, who had supported Prodi's coalition, protested the plan, which would have destroyed Apennine valleys and woods.^{[citation needed]}

Romano Prodi had previously been the subject of an investigation run by Di Pietro, but the charges had been dropped before any trial.

Di Pietro came under investigation himself in 1997 for his activities both in the police and as a judge. It was later found that the main prosecutor handling Di Pietro's case, Fabio Salamone from Brescia, was the brother of a man that Di Pietro himself had prosecuted, and who had been sentenced to 18 months of jail for various corruption charges. Although it took some time for the authorities to realize this, Salamone was eventually allocated other duties and, after years of trials, Di Pietro was eventually cleared of all charges.

Political career[link]

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After being cleared, Di Pietro started a political career, something he had previously excluded on the grounds that he did not want to exploit the popularity he had gained while doing what he perceived to be just his duty. He was elected to the Italian Senate in a by-election caused by the resignation of a senator, and defeated right-wing journalist Giuliano Ferrara in the Mugello constituency, a left wing stronghold.

He later founded his own movement, Italia dei Valori (Italy of Values), making its main theme the fight against political corruption in Italy. As a protest against the growing tolerance of corruption in most Italian political parties, and the complacent attitude of left-wing politicians like Massimo D'Alema towards Berlusconi, he did not run alongside the left-wing coalition in the Italian general election of 2001, which was won by Silvio Berlusconi's coalition.

Di Pietro's movement collected just short of the nationwide four-percent limit necessary for entry to the Lower Chamber of the Parliament under proportional representation, and gained a single senator—who immediately defected to Berlusconi's party.

Running alongside the former leader of the Italian Communist Party and founder of the Democratic Party of the Left, Achille Occhetto, he received two seats in the European Elections of 2004. The other seat is currently taken by Giulietto Chiesa, a journalist.

Di Pietro was one of seven candidates for leader of the left-wing coalition The Union for the general election held on October 16, 2005—eventually won by Romano Prodi—in which he obtained 3.3 percent of the votes, ranking fourth.

On May 17, 2006 Di Pietro was appointed Minister of Infrastructures by Romano Prodi, as part of his new government.

He is a member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs. He is also a substitute for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and chairs the Delegation for relations with South Africa.

On January 30, 2006 he published a letter in the Italian newspaper L'Unità, in which he promised to work for a law that will prohibit anyone from being elected more than twice consecutively (although he has been an MP since 1996), and prohibiting anyone who has received a definitive sentence from becoming a candidate in elections.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2010, Di Pietro harshly criticized Berlusconi and the parliament for approving a controversial tax amnesty bill.^[9]

Vidcast[link]

In December 2006, Di Pietro started a vidcast on YouTube, a video sharing website. In the vidcast, issued weekly since January 2007, Di Pietro talks about the issues discussed in the weekly Government Cabinet.^[10] Other prominent politicians, such as Angela Merkel of Germany, had released one-off vidcasts, but this was perhaps the first time that a minister of a government in office had a regular vidcast.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Antonio Di Pietro

• 1978: Graduate in law
• 1978–1979: specialisation in administrative law
• 1980: qualification for court work
• 1981: magistrate
• 1996: Minister of Public Works in the 12th legislature
• 1997: Senator
• since 1998: Chairman of the 'Italia dei Valori' party
• since 1999: Member of the European Parliament
• 1999-2002: Chairman of the delegation for relations with South America and Mercosur
• 2002–2004: Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Mongolia
• Honorary degree from the University of Thrace (Greece)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Antonio Di Pietro: www.antoniodipietro.it (Italian)
• Frasi celebri (unforgettable quotes) (Italian)
• Di Pietro's article on his campaign to abolish the government immunity law of Berlusconi
• European Parliament biography of Antonio Di Pietro (incl. Speeches, Questions and Motions)
• Video blog on YouTube of Antonio Di Pietro,updated weekly (Italian)

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