Corpus Domini Monastery, Gothic monastery in Ferrara, Italy

The Monastery of Corpus Domini stands at 4 via Pergolato in Ferrara. Along the lane, a long red-brick wall rises to a taller gabled front with a pointed-arch stone portal, a recessed arch above it, a small circular opening and a brick cornice topped by two pinnacles. Inside, the public church has pale yellow walls, dark wooden choir stalls with carved crests, and a projecting wooden balcony with a gilded balustrade and three blue-green panels above a closed double door.

Construction began in 1407 after the nun Bernardina Sedazzari acquired the Praisolo area, and the first works ended in 1419. Verde and Taddea Pio obtained the enclosure under the Rule of Saint Clare, and Catherine Vegri entered in 1426, becoming a nun in 1432. The banker Giovanni Romei donated nearby Casa Romei, extending the complex over a whole city block.

The monastery is dedicated to the Corpus Domini, the Eucharist, and the Poor Clares who live here still follow the Rule of Saint Clare. Catherine of Bologna, who entered in 1426 and became a nun in 1432, was mistress of novices and taught about a hundred women; she also illuminated her own breviary. The public church keeps a late-Baroque decoration, with the Glory of Saint Catherine Vegri frescoed on the nave ceiling by Giuseppe Ghedini between 1770 and 1773.

The monastery stands at 4 via Pergolato, in the block bounded by via Praisolo, via Campofranco and via Savonarola. The public church is entered from the lane; the cloistered part is closed to visitors. It is an active Poor Clares convent, so dress modestly and keep silence.

Among the Este family members buried here is Lucrezia Borgia, who died in 1519 and was laid to rest in the monastery church. Her tomb can be seen during a visit and connects the place to one of the most talked-about figures of the Italian Renaissance.