# Ep. 62: Este Ferrara - Borso, Ercole, & Alfonso I

An episode of [The Italian Renaissance Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1612265937), 15 Sep 2025, 26 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1947899/episodes/17841305-ep-62-este-ferrara-borso-ercole-alfonso-i.mp3

We continue our journey through the Este court of Ferrara, moving from Borso’s decoration of the Palazzo Schifanoia to the ambitious reign of Ercole I. We explore his transformation of Ferrara with the Addizione Erculea and the dazzling Palazzo dei Diamanti, before turning to his son Alfonso and the overlooked brilliance of court painter Dosso Dossi. Finally, we trace how Este patronage shaped Renaissance literature through Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a chivalric epic that fused fantasy, wit, and courtly ideals into one of the great masterpieces of the age, one that enabled further crosscurrents between the visual and written world. Support/Watch/Follow: https://linktr.ee/italian_renaissance_podcast Works Discussed: Palazzo Schifanoia Frescos: https://youtu.be/20FIWIDxEbg?si=_-6t4Iba48X0ozuK Palazzo dei Diamanti: https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/rossett/diamant.html Dosso Dossi Portrait of Alfonso I, ca. 1534, https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Battista_Dossi,_ritratto_di_Alfonso_I_d%27Este_-_Modena.jpg Triumph of Bacchus, ca. 1514: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dosso_dossi,_trionfo_di_bacco,_00,1.jpg Apollo and Daphne, ca 1525: https://youtube.com/shorts/P3o367FdT_c?si=mwY2Z-7Rr0T2Pmyc Circe/Melissa, ca 1524: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_(Dossi) The Florentine Renaissance Course Support the show

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