Normally housing an impressive collection of 19th-century religious, literary and historical art, this museum will be closed through to 2023 for restoration after suffering earthquake damage in 2012.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
 - 0.43 MILES - Complete with moat and drawbridge, Ferrara's towering castle was commissioned by Nicolò II d'Este in 1385. Initially it was intended to protect him and… 
 - 27.89 MILES - The 15th-century Palazzo Casa Fontana poi Gamberini – the fascinating, pricier-than-the-Colosseum home of eccentric Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla … 
 - 27.76 MILES - Bologna's most unique religious site is this atmospheric labyrinth of interlocking ecclesiastical structures, whose architecture spans centuries of… 
 - 27.81 MILES - Bologna's hulking Gothic basilica is Europe's sixth-largest church, measuring 132m by 66m by 47m. Work began on it in 1390, but it was never finished, and… 
 - Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna - 27.67 MILES - This mouthful of a museum inside Palazzo Sanguinetti – the former home of Napoleon's Italian minister – chronicles six centuries of European musical… 
 - Museo Nazionale dell'Ebraismo Italiano e della Shoah - 0.81 MILES - Born by an Italian Parliamentary decree to create a National Holocaust Museum, the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah partially opened in… 
 - 28.05 MILES - The huge 14th-century battlements surrounding Montagnana represent one of the most complete medieval fortified complexes in Europe. The 2km-circuit,… 
 - 1.05 MILES - Housed within what is arguably Ferrara's most beautifully preserved palace – the 1505 Palazzo Costabili – the city's national archaeological museum is… 
Nearby Ferrara attractions
This early Renaissance palace houses three museums: the Museo Giovanni Boldini, dedicated solely to Ferrara-born Giovanni Boldini; the Museo dell…
Established in 1938, this museum – closed through to 2023 for restoration after suffering earthquake damage in 2012 – is home to the most important…
3. Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Filippo de Pisis
While normally housing an extensive collection of works by native Ferrara painter and poet Filippo de Pisis (as well as a collection of paintings and…
0.15 MILES
Ferrara's monumental cemetery, designed by Borso d’Este in 1461, is an off-the-beaten path gem in Ferrara. Two snaking, semi-circlular arcades frame the…
0.17 MILES
Tucked away on the ground floor of Ferrara's Palazzo dei Diamanti, this museum houses high-profile special exhibits.
0.17 MILES
Named after the spiky diamond-shaped ashlar stones on its facade, the late-15th-century 'diamond palace' was built for Sigismondo d'Este. It houses…
0.17 MILES
Ferrara's art gallery, housed on the 1st floor of the late-15th-century Palazzo dei Diamanti, is the perfect spot to contemplate the genius of the 16th-…
8. Museo del Risorgimento e della Resistenza
0.23 MILES
Next door to Pinacoteca Nazionale, this small museum exhibits documents, proclamations and posters from the Italian unification movement and WWII, as well…