There are two early centres of settlement: one around the cathedral,[3] 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,[4] as a city forming part of the Exarchate of Ravenna.

And in 1471 the lord Borso d'Este, who from 1452 was already duke of Modena and Reggio, obtained from Pope Paul II the ducal title also for Ferrara, shortly before his death.

[7] Ercole I d'Este was one of the most important patrons of the arts in late 15th- and early 16th-century Italy, along the Medicis and Pope Julius II.

During his reign, Ferrara grew into an international cultural centre, renowned for its architecture, music, literature and visual arts.

Ferraranese painters established links with Flemish artists and their techniques, exchanging influences in colours and composition choices.

Josquin des Prez worked for Duke Ercole for a time (producing the Missa Hercules dux Ferrariæ, which he wrote for him).

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 a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

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.