Main Initiatives

2002 sees the five-hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Lucrezia Borgia to Ferrara, following her marriage to Alfonso d'Este, son of Duke Ercole 1st and heir of the Esentse dukedom. The town council of Ferrara is promoting- with the collaboration of authorities, institutions and associations of the city - a series of initiatives united by the intent of highlighting the many perspectives of a golden period for the city of Ferrara and for renaissance culture in Italy and in Europe: objective directed at the court, the role of the intellectual, the birth of a new harmonious idea of nature and man, but also everyday life.
Much has been written on the light and dark sides of this womanly figure and in popular imaginary the outline of a "dark lady" Lucrezia tends to prevail, ambiguous of changing plots of power. But it is also true that for the time she lived in Ferrara, - where she died in childbirth in 1519 - Lucrezia was almost unanimously described as an exemplary wife and mother, a careful and respective daughter in law to Ercole I, attentive regent of the destinies of the Estense dukedom during the absence of her warrior husband, fervently devout woman, as well as the centre of a cultural fervour which sees her nourishing relationships with some of the most important intellectuals of her time. Therefore we like to imagine that at Ferrara, finally removed from the control of the overpowering father figure - her father Pope Alexander VI- Lucrezia experienced a period of serenity, in which she released the most genuine parts of her soul.
But, beyond the many possible suggestions- more or less substantiated from a historical point of view- the fact of the matter is that we are dealing with an "all round" figure, open to multiple interpretations, therefore perfectly in line with the complexity of the typical signs that characterise the Renaissance.

Together with these main initiatives, there are also several proposals presented by local cultural associations, which will make Lucretia's Year particularly rich and varied: meetings, public lectures, translations and publications of yet inedited books, concerts played by local ensembles; at the sign of a fascinating and complex woman character, regarded as a symbol of Ferrara Golden Age.