Orlando Furioso: 500 years – What Ariosto saw when he closed his eyes

These are the questions the exhibition organised by the Foundation Ferrara Arte in order to celebrate the five hundred year anniversary from the first edition of the Orlando Furioso, is trying to answer. Conceived during Estense Ferrara and printed in 1516, the poem is one of the absolute masterpieces of Western literature which immediately spoke directly to the heart of Italian and European readers.

More than a documentary reconstruction, the exhibition is an important display of genuine art: an extraordinary narration through images which guides the visitor in an exciting trip in the Ariosto universe, through battles and tournaments, knights and lovers, desires and spells.

The masterpieces by the best artists in the world – from Giovanni Bellini to Mantegna, from Dosso Dossi to Raphael, from Leonardo to Michelangelo and Titian – in addition to ancient and Renaissance sculptures, engravings, tapestries, weapons, books and artefacts of extraordinary beauty and preciousness, allow visitors to re-experience the fantastic chivalrous world of Furioso and of his paladins, at the same time offering an evocative cross section of the Ferrara in which the book was conceived and narrating the dreams, desires and fantasies of that Italian Renaissance court society of which Ariosto was a skilful bard.

The exhibition is curated by Guido Beltramini and Adolfo Tura and organised by the Foundation Ferrara Arte and by MiBACT, the cultural heritage and tourist Ministry.