Ferrara

(fair-rah'rah,) a fortified city of Central Italy, C. ofp. of same name, and formerly of an indep. duchy governed by princes of the house of Este, on the Volano, 26 m. N.N.E. of Bologna. Its olden magnificence is manifested by its many decayed and untenanted palaces. F. was the birthplace of Ta o, Guarini, and Cardinal Bentivoglio, and the residence of the poet Ariosto, who D. here in 1533. After the extinction of its line of princes, F. became a papal dependency till 1796, when the French made it the C. of their dep. of Campo-ba o. It was restored to the Church in 1814, and has been since 1859 absorbed into the new kingdom of Italy. Pop. 67,988. [s. 361]