Casa Romei, Renaissance palazzo in Ferrara, Italy.
Casa Romei is a residential palazzo from the early Renaissance in Ferrara, built around a central courtyard with two floors of rooms. The lower level shows Gothic-style details, while the upper floor features painted wooden ceilings and terracotta ornamental work.
The building was put up around 1450 by Giovanni Romei, a merchant who worked closely with the Este family that ruled Ferrara. He later married into the Este household, which gave the residence a position of some standing in the city.
The ground floor holds artworks brought from churches across Ferrara over the centuries, including stone carvings and painted walls. These pieces show both sacred and everyday subjects that reveal what people valued in art during this period.
The palazzo is in the center of Ferrara and easy to reach on foot from most parts of the old town. Opening hours change depending on the day of the week, so it is worth checking before you go.
In the second room of the ground-floor lapidarium, beneath the present floor level, lies a brick plunge pool found during excavations in the early 1990s. It has a step for entering and a bench around its edge, and its water was heated by a furnace near an adjacent fireplace. It is the only structure of its kind surviving in Ferrara.
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