STORIES
Valentine's Day in Ferrara: the secret love of Lucrezia Borgia
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Passion in Ferrara is a fil rouge that transcends time: from the Este Court's loves to the lyricism of Ariosto and Tasso.
As you walk through the streets of the city, you will be enraptured by the magical atmosphere that was the setting for Lucrezia Borgia's legendary love affairs and that for centuries guarded the secrets and passions of one of Italy's most important courts.
San Valentino a Ferrara: l'amore segreto di Lucrezia Borgia
Many are familiar with the tragic fate of Ugo and Parisina, whose story still echoes in the halls of Castello Estense, but few know of the story that links a passion born between the rooms of the Ferrara court and the Ambrosiana library in Milan. There, kept in a reliquary, is a golden curl of hair supposed to be Lucrezia Borgia's own.
But how did Lucrezia's blonde curls, which are said to have inspired the creation of the Ferrarese bread ('la coppia'), get all the way to Milan?
Our story begins in Ferrara in 1502: on that day, the court was hosting young poets and, among them, was the protagonist of our story.
The young man strongly desired to be noticed by the Duchess and, although he had heard of her beauty several times, when he finally saw her he was strongly infatuated.
Her blond hair shone, illuminated by the sun's rays filtering through the palace's large windows. How could he forget that figure? The impact was such that he decided to change the structure of his first work, which was almost completed at the time. The work, entitled 'The Asolani', is filled with the most passionate love a man can feel.
The young man gave a copy to his beloved as a gift and love struck between the two of them, secretly, between the corridors of the palace, complicated glances and secret verses.
However, plague arrived in Ferrara some time later and the poet was forced to leave the city. The duchess, on the other hand, could not abandon its people, who had been decimated: thus began a long epistolary relationship. But he could not forget her hair, so she sent him one of her beautiful strands. To keep it close to him eternally, he placed it in a precious casket, where he also kept all the love letters they had written to each other.
The two lovers never saw each other again but continued to write to each other for sixteen years.
Then she died and he became a cardinal, his name? Pietro Bembo: one of the most important figures in Italian literature.
Many stories and legends spring from Ferrara: it is not difficult to imagine how the lovers lived in the ancient streets of the historic centre and strolled through the sumptuous Renaissance parks.
Ferrara still retains that romantic charm today and, on Valentine's Day, celebrates the loves of the past and present. Its evocative, almost metaphysical atmosphere is the perfect setting for lovers and becomes a perfect backdrop for those unforgettable moments that make you feel butterflies in your stomach.
Enriched by romantic decorations in Piazza Trento e Trieste and at Parco Coletta, the city becomes a perfect setting for strolling hand in hand and remembering the importance of this sentiment that, more than any other, is capable of moving seas and mountains.
