San Romano, Former church and cathedral museum in Ferrara, Italy

San Romano is a former church and monastery in Ferrara, built before the nearby cathedral of San Giorgio. Its brick facade has a broad triangular gable edged with small dark arches, three slender pinnacles and three arched recesses, each holding a round window; below the central one is the arched entrance with dark wooden doors. A long side wall carries tall arched recesses above a ground-level arcade of round arches.

San Romano is one of Ferrara's oldest places of worship, built well before the nearby cathedral of San Giorgio. It was first entrusted to Benedictine monks and later to the Augustinian canons; in 1130 the bishop of Adria, Gregory III, granted the convent rights over the church of San Biagio di Ceregnano. The Este family restored it repeatedly, and in 1487 the church and cloister were raised and the facade finished with terracotta decoration. Suppressed in 1796 under French rule, it passed to the municipality and served briefly as a prison.

The name San Romano refers to Saint Romanus, depicted in the lunette above the entrance portal as an armed 14th-century knight, a work attributed to the Romanesque sculptor Niccolò. Since 2000 the complex has housed the Museo della cattedrale, previously kept in the cathedral building since 1929. The cloister hosts temporary exhibitions, and the church is used during the Ferrara Buskers Festival in late August.

The complex has housed the Museo della cattedrale since the 2000 Jubilee, after restoration; the cathedral museum had been based in the cathedral building since 1929. The cloister, restored around the 1970s, has served for temporary exhibitions, and the former church is used occasionally, for instance during the late-August Ferrara Buskers Festival.

The lunette above the entrance portal shows an armed 14th-century knight representing Saint Romanus, attributed to Niccolò, one of the leading Italian sculptors of the Romanesque period. The relief was part of the 1487 works, when the church and cloister were raised and the facade finished with terracotta decoration.