Estense Castle

Going onto the corridor that goes around the cell of Don Giulio, you soon come upon a steep and narrow stairway that leads to the cells that held these unlucky lovers, protagonists of one of the most dramatic pages of Estense history. Parisina Malatesta was the second wife of Marquis Niccolò III, who was something of a rake and a great deal older than her. After seven years of marriage that had been generally quite calm, she ended up falling in love with her step-son Ugo, son of the Marquis and Stella dei Tolomei. The two young people were discovered, subjected to a rapid trial and finally beheaded. It was 1425; Parisina was 20 years old, Ugo still only 19. Coming down the stairway, on the left was Parisina’s cell. Following the corridor you get to Ugo’s; in this one can be seen, on the ceiling, prisoners' writing done with candle smoke.

On the ground floor after entering a narrow corridor, we see on the left the low deep doorway that leads into this room, at one time allotted for a cell and perhaps also a torture chamber. Notably Giulio d’Este was shut up in this cell for many years; he was the legitimate brother of Alfonso I and the lead actor in a famous and unhappy affair. Giulio and Cardinal Ippolito, both of them brothers of Alfonso I, held grudges and differences with each other from long ago. There came a time when both were in love with the same woman, Angela Borgia, cousin of the Duchess Lucrezia, but this gracious maiden granted her preference to Giulio. The two brothers met by chance in the countryside near the “delizia” of Belriguardo. Giulio was alone and could do nothing when the Cardinal ordered his servants to seize him and kill him. This cruel order wasn’t carried out, but Giulio was beaten until he bled, and lost the use of one eye. From that moment he began to plot the death of Ippolito, and to succeed in this joined forces with another brother, Ferrante, who wanted to eliminate the duke and take his place. The conspiracy was soon discovered: all the allies of the two principals were put to death, whereas for them the sentence was ‘generously’ reduced to life imprisonment. It was 1506 when the two were shut up in the castle prison. Ferrante died there, Giulio survived long enough to see the light of freedom again in 1559, thanks to Alfonso II. He’d reached the age of 81 years, of which 53 had been spent under lock and key.

The three rooms on the piano nobile frescoed under Alfonso II, but already used as state rooms under Ercole II, known as the Sala dell’Aurora (Chamber of Dawn), Saletta dei Giochi (Small Chamber of Games) and Salone dei Giochi (Halls of Games), present a complex iconography linked by a single underlying theme.

The sumptuous ceiling of the Chamber of Dawn, inside the Lion Tower, represents the four parts of the day: on the right (coming in from the chapel) is found Dawn, a young winged Goddess who advances pulling the horses of the sun’s chariot by their reins. Proceeding then in a clockwise direction we meet Day, when the chariot of the sun proceeds in all its shining glory, preceded by Dawn with two torches in her hands; then Dusk, with the chariot of the sun going away towards the horizon; and Night, where Diana, with the lunar disc on her forehead, rejoins her lover Endymion. At the centre is an old man representing Time, seated between the three Fates - Goddesses of Life and Death. In the lower part is a long procession of cherubs on chariots drawn by every type of animal.

The ceiling of the small Chamber of Games is decorated, in the centre, with the round dance of the Four Seasons, and around that frescoes with scenes of the Games of Ancient Rome; on the long side a Bacchanal; opposite that the Basket Fight, a sort of boxing in which the competitors had around their hands bandages called ‘baskets’. On the two short walls are represented Gladiator fights. At the bottom, scenes of children's games rendered in the artistic style of Ancient Rome.

The next large room, the Hall of Games, was intended for evening amusements, whether concerts or games. The ceiling is divided into eleven panels, each one containing a scene of a sport, following the tastes of Duke Alfonso II. Not all of them are equally well done: the most worthwhile, on the courtyard side, are by Bastianino and represent, from left to right: all-in wrestling, stone throwing, and Greco-Roman wrestling.The athletes are naked in deference to the tradition of ancient Greece. Also by Bastianino is the panel depicting swimming, on the short side next to the Greco-Roman wrestling.