The family is Italy’s nucleus and the history of Italy is essentially the history of its greatest families: among them the Visconti and Sforza of Milan, the Savoia of Piedmont and the Medici of Florence. One of the greatest families is that of the Este which are particularly associated with Ferrara and its greatest representative Duke Ercole who brought that city to a pinnacle of art and culture rarely equalled even in Italy. The ‘prince of music’, Josquin des Prez, for example was one of the court’s musicians!
However, before moving to Ferrara the family had established itself in its namesake town of Este. It was only in the thirteenth century that the Este moved south to escape from the growing power of the Venetian republic.
Este is full of memories of this noble family; no greater, perhaps than in the gigantic castle which dominates the old town. The Castello Carrarese is basically a quadrilateral of imposing walls enclosing some delightful gardens and a keep on top of a motte.
In our search for a suitable place to refresh ourselves we alighted at a Chinese restaurant opposite the walls where we ate exquisite Cantonese food. The proprietress from Shanghai (which we had visited last year) had been a resident of Este for over seventeen years and loved the place. She decried the demolition of the old Shanghai she knew and felt very happy in living in an Italian town which had preserved that human scale so ruthlessly being destroyed in the exploding new Chinese megalopolis.
There is a lot more to visit in Este apart from the magnificent walls. There’s a gorgeous array of churches: in particular the elegant Duomo with a magnificent Tiepolo showing Saint Tekla saving the town from the plague. There are wonderful palaces including one transformed into a museum showing the roman origins of Este.
As usual, we had a timetable to keep else I’m sure we would have lingered in this beautiful town for much longer; I especially admired the old clock tower, the quaint arcades and the town’s magnificent civic square.
As with the finer Italian towns Este has its fair share of famous/notorious visitors to it. Lord Byron and Ugo Foscolo were especially drawn to it.
How dismal it is to have to keep to appointments. They are truly the manacles to one’s liberty. I would have loved to have lingered longer in this delicious town. Yet there was still one more extraordinary place to visit. Visitors from Montagnana dining at the Chinese restaurant said we would regret for ever the chance of not visiting their own home town which was just a few kilometres distance. They said that even Este’s walls paled with comparison with their own. This was a dare we couldn’t resist taking. So on to Montagnana!