{"id":5481,"date":"2025-01-24T15:45:43","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T15:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/?p=5481"},"modified":"2025-01-24T15:52:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T15:52:46","slug":"the-boiardo-fortress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/itineraries\/the-boiardo-fortress\/","title":{"rendered":"The Boiardo Fortress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Located in Scandiano&#8217;s historical centre, the Boiardo Fortress is a monument of great historical and cultural value. And it is <strong>famous not only as a defensive structure first and then as a noble residence, but above all because the entire history of Scandiano and its people took place inside<\/strong> it: the poet <strong>Matteo Maria Boiardo<\/strong>, one of the most famous and important Italian men of letters of the 15th century, was born here; <strong>Lazzaro Spallanzani<\/strong>, the Scandiano naturalist who lived in the 18th century and is considered the \u2018Galilei of biology\u2019, used to carry out his experiments in the basement; and the poet <strong>Francesco Petrarca<\/strong>, the reformer <strong>Giovanni Calvino<\/strong> and <strong>Pope Paul III<\/strong> all stayed here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dating back to the 12th century, <strong>the fortress was built as a place of defence<\/strong> (equipped with walls, a moat with a drawbridge and watchtowers) <strong>by the noble Da Fogliano family<\/strong>. It later passed to the Boiardo family (from whom it takes its name), who inhabited it from 1423 to 1560. <strong>Under the Boiardo family, the fortress was transformed into a sumptuous stately home<\/strong>, rich in paintings and sculptures, opening onto a large green space adorned with fishponds and grotesque fountains. It was during this period that Nicol\u00f2 dell&#8217;Abate painted the frescoes of the Camerino, with scenes from the Aeneid, transferred at the end of the 18th century to the Estense Gallery in Modena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following the extinction of the Boiardo family in 1560, <strong>the Thiene family lived there from 1565 to 1623<\/strong>. The latter commissioned architect Giovan Battista Aleotti, known as l&#8217;Argenta, to design the renovation of the fortress with the large fa\u00e7ade on the south side and the imposing staircase leading to the upper floors. When this family also died out, <strong>the building was first inhabited by the Bentivoglio family and later by the Marquises d&#8217;Este<\/strong>, who introduced Baroque-style decorations. After the Marquises d&#8217;Este, the fortress underwent a period of neglect before passing to the Genoese nobleman <strong>Giovan Battista Mari<\/strong> (who held it for almost thirty years) in 1750, before returning once again to the Este rulers. During the French Revolution it remained in state ownership, only to be later sold to Paolo Braglia of Scandiano, who held it until the Restoration, when it again returned to the Estensi.<strong> The fortress then underwent progressive degradation until 1983, when it underwent major restoration work<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Different styles coexist in the building: medieval, renaissance and baroque<\/strong>. The complex stands out in the centre of the historic village with its massive corner tower and majestic 17th-century fa\u00e7ade. The elegant courtyard with portico gives access to the so-called <strong>Appartamento Estense<\/strong> (built in the 16th century and modified in the early decades of the 18th century), the most refined room in the entire structure. Inside, several rooms with valuable decorations follow one another. The <strong>monumental staircase<\/strong> features terracotta statues, created in 1619 by the Genoese sculptor Giovan Battista Pontelli, depicting members of the Thiene family. A door in the courtyard leads to the <strong>basement<\/strong>, home to the old prisons. <strong>Cultural, food and wine events and shows are organised in the gardens<\/strong>, which feature a fascinating alternation of ancient walls and new grassy spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Photo \u00a9 Andrea Samaritani<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A monument of great historical and cultural value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-itineraries"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"Itineraries"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Rocca-del-Boiardo-\u00a9-ANDREA-SAMARITANI-4-1024x682.jpg",1024,682,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"salvatoremenale1","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/author\/salvatoremenale1\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"Itineraries","slug":"itineraries","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":157,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":157,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Itineraries","category_nicename":"itineraries","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5484,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5481\/revisions\/5484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilbrugnolo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}