Festivals in Ferrara

In my portrait of my hometown I mentioned the fact that, far from being just a town with a great historic and artistic heritage, Ferrara is still quite dynamic and offers a series of interesting attraction to the tourists (as well as the local dwellers). In point of fact, a few interesting festivals take place every year in Ferrara, making the town even more special at least for some days.

Going by chronological order, the first event takes place in late April, benefiting for a few days off due to the feast of Saint George (23rd of April), the saint patron of Ferrara, and to one of the Italian national celebrations (25th of April, the day when the II World War ended in my country). Anyway, in these days a festival called Vulandra is held, featuring thousands of kites and kite-fliers from all over the world. The festival is the oldest among the ones described in this post, dating back to 1987. The setting for this spectacular event is a natural area called Parco Urbano "Giorgio Bassani". Located right outside the city walls on the northern side of the town, it is a really pleasant park where a lot of Ferraresi usually enjoy a Sunday walk. Also this year, therefore, the sky of Ferrara will be cheered up by a multitude of colourful kites of many shapes and colours. Of course, special events are devoted to the natural protagonists of the kite-flying, the children, who have the chance to learn how to fly a kite or even how to build their own one. Further information is available at this link.

The next remarkable event is an international gathering of artists and street musicians called Ferrara Buskers Festival. Taking place towards the end of August, it represents a perfect opportunity to discover the town. The unique scenery for this festival is indeed the very centre of Ferrara, a wide no-traffic area were a good number of significant landmark are located. However, the most charming aspects of the Buskers Festival are not about the setting: artists and musicians from all over the world, indeed, animate the streets and squares of Ferrara with their inimitable shows, live performance or acrobatic exhibitions.

Not by chance, more than 800, 000 people are estimated to visit the festival every year, enjoying what may be defined a "fiesta mobile". This quotation from Hemingway, indeed, perfectly illustrates the essence of the Buskers festival: musicians playing flutes carved from a pumpkin, a mouth organ made with a few bottles of beer and other original instruments, clowns and jugglers or simply ethnic-dressed dancers and street musicians playing their favourite music are the very soul, and the real protagonists, of this event. The 27th edition of the festival is still in the pipeline, but is announced as a very exciting one: do not miss it if you happen to be within reach of Ferrara!

In case you stay in Ferrara starts at the beginning of September, which means you have missed the Buskers Festival for just a few days, there is no need to be despaired. An equally fascinating event, indeed, is on schedule during the second week of September, namely the Ferrara Balloons festival, an event which despite being quite recent (the first edition dates back to 2005) has rapidly caught up with the popularity of the ones formerly described. Needless to say, the main protagonists of the festival are the colourful and exciting hot-air balloons which populate the skyline of the city for a week or so.

As in the case of the Vulandra festival, the core of the event is found in the Parco Urbano "Giorgio Bassani", where a series of interesting collateral events are organised. Visitors are offered the unique opportunity (though at a quite expensive price) to experience the euphoria of flying in a balloon, either in an anchored or in a completely free one. Otherwise, they may admire them from the ground, as well as visiting the reconstruction of a medieval village housed in the park or witnessing many sport exhibitions of any kind. For more information, check the official web page of Ferrara Festival.

Perhaps less spectacular (but probably far more interesting) is the last of the great events housed in Ferrara. An international festival of journalism, not by chance organised by an important magazine called "Internazionale", is held in the town during the first weekend of October. After the good success of the inaugural edition in 2007, the event has been gaining importance and is now regarded as a top event in its kind, due to the importance of the journalists taking part from all over the world, and to the considerable interest of the issues handled. Once again, the wonderful landmarks of the town centre are the setting for the event, as the conferences and meetings are held in such places as the Este Castle, the Teatro Comunale, the main square of Ferrara (Piazza Trento Trieste) or the historical Biblioteca Ariostea.

Photo gallery