Casa Minerbi - Del Sale, Medieval building in Ferrara, Italy.

Casa Minerbi - Del Sale is a medieval residential building in Ferrara with rooms that preserve features from centuries past. The interior contains detailed frescoes from the 14th century covering roughly 70 square meters, depicting representations of virtues and vices.

The Del Sale family built the house around the mid-14th century; their heraldic lion with an elephant's head is carved on the portico capitals and painted in the Sala degli Stemmi. Archive records place the notary Tilbertus a Sale in the nearby Santa Marie de Bucho district between 1355 and 1359. Ownership changes before the 19th century are poorly documented; in 1995 the Comune di Ferrara and the State acquired the building from the Minerbi heirs.

The building is named after its last and first owners, the Minerbi and Del Sale families, a name adopted after studies in the second half of the 20th century. Since 2016 part of the connected complex has housed the Centro di Studi Bassaniani, dedicated to the writer Giorgio Bassani, alongside other municipal offices.

A visit requires prior arrangement, as the building is not freely accessible to the public. It is best to contact the responsible authorities beforehand to clarify opening times and conditions for a visit.

The frescoes are attributed to Stefano da Ferrara, not to an unknown master. In the Salone delle Virtù e dei Vizi, the Temperance is shown in profile holding a model of a walled, towered city, with a key in her right hand at its gate, a quotation of Bolognese models. The central theme, identified by Boskovits, is a Particular Judgment, a rare subject debated in the Church under Pope John XXII.