Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara

The National Picture Gallery of Ferrara occupies the piano nobile of Palazzo dei Diamanti. Its collection traces Ferrarese painting from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, including works by Cosme Tura, Ercole de' Roberti, Garofalo and Dosso Dossi.

Why it matters

Founded in 1836 as Ferrara's first public picture collection, the gallery was intended to prevent the dispersal of the city's artistic heritage. Paintings from churches suppressed during the Napoleonic period joined works acquired from local collections. The collection passed to the Italian state in 1958 and became the Pinacoteca Nazionale.

What to notice

The fifteenth-century Ferrarese school is represented by Cosme Tura's paintings and the Muses Erato and Urania, once part of the Este court's Studiolo di Belfiore. Works by Ercole de' Roberti and paintings by visiting artists such as Gentile da Fabriano, Andrea Mantegna and Vittore Carpaccio show Ferrara's connections with other centres. The Polittico Costabili, painted by Garofalo with Dosso Dossi, anchors the sixteenth-century rooms. Later galleries include works by Bastianino, Scarsellino, Guercino, Gandolfi and Crespi. The coffered ceiling of the salone d'onore and traces of the Este apartment place the paintings within the palace's Renaissance setting.

Context and history

The civic collection was installed in Palazzo dei Diamanti's piano nobile, where altarpieces from suppressed churches were joined by paintings acquired from private owners. Its passage to state ownership in 1958 established the Pinacoteca Nazionale. Since 2023, it has formed part of the Musei Nazionali di Ferrara, alongside the National Archaeological Museum, Casa Romei and Casa Minerbi-Dal Sale. The palace's renewal project by Labics, completed in 2023, reorganised the historic floors and the gallery's display.