page_title: Duchy of Ferrara
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Duchy of Ferrara / Background
caption_attribution_description: A map of Ferrara, c.1600.
context_page_description: The Duchy of Ferrara was a state in what is now northern Italy. It consisted of about 1,100 km² south of the lower Po River, stretching to the valley of the lower Reno River, including the city of Ferrara. The territory that was part of the Duchy was ruled by the House of Este from 1146 to 1597.
  In 1471, the territory was transferred to the Papal States. Borso d'Este, already Duke of Modena and Reggio, was created Duke of Ferrara by Pope Paul II. Borso and his successors ruled Ferrara as a quasi-sovereign state until 1597, when it came under direct papal rule.
context_section_description: The origin of Ferrara is uncertain. It was probably settled by the inhabitants of the lagoons at the mouth of the Po. There are two early centers of settlement: one round the cathedral, 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, as a city forming part of the Exarchate of Ravenna. Desiderius pledged a Lombard ducatus ferrariae ("Duchy of Ferrara") in 757 to Pope Stephen II.
caption: Ferrara, walled and moated, ca 1600.
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