Fortress of Vignola
Paths, history and images

by Achille Lodovisi
2013, Vignola Foundation
€ 13.00 pp. 173, ill
ISBN 978-88-7866-022-9

An up-to-date introduction to the knowledge of the Fortress of Vignola, illustrated in each of its spaces and in the wealth of artistic and cultural themes it contains, as well as a testament to the careful conservation work carried out by the Vignola Foundation over the years.
The guide leads the reader/visitor to move from one narrative to another when desired, abandoning descriptions to unleash curiosity and imagination in the dozens of focuses. Even the drawings and miniatures form an additional narrative framework, also related to the world of the Fortress.

Coats of arms and enterprises of the Fortress of Vignola

Edited by Giuseppe Trenti, Achille Lodovisi and Debora Dameri
Drawings by Loreno Confortini
2008, Vignola Foundation
10.00 pp. 52, ill.
ISBN 978-88-7866-012-0
88-7866-012-4

Illustrated guide to the heraldic depictions that still ogle the walls of the castle building. The work, embellished with plates by Loreno Confortini, is designed not only to point out to the visitor the aesthetic value of the iconographic cycles, which represent one of the richest and best-preserved heritages of the genre in the region, but also and above all to reveal the stories told by coats of arms and enterprises with their language made of symbols and colors.

The Contrari Chapel in the Fortress of Vignola

curated by Daniele Benati and Vincenzo Vandelli
in collaboration with the Documentation Center of the Vignola Foundation
photographs by Ghigo Roli
2007, Jaca Book
€ 70.00 pp. 240, ill.
ISBN 978-88-88-16-60360-8

Since the earliest studies dating back to the beginning of the last century, the frescoes in the chapel of the castle of Vignola, commissioned by Uguccione Contrari, constitute a fascinating problem within late Gothic painting in the Po Valley. Characterized by a marked expressive intent and a surprising level of inventiveness, they give an account of the most innovative stylistic research in progress between Ferrara and Bologna, at a date that can be set during the 1520s. There are also numerous problems concerning them, from the precise individualization of their author, to be sought in the milieu of the active painters of Nicolò III d’Este, of whom Uguccione was feudal lord, to the reasons that determined the abrupt interruption of the decorative project, completed only in the vault and the lunettes below. In the absence of precise documentary evidence, the volume tackles the still open questions from multiple points of view, first clarifying the cultural ambitions of Uguccione Contrari, among the most prominent figures of the Este court and at the center of a vast network of relationships, and then examining the construction phases of the Rocca, which was subject to profound changes at his behest. Ample space is devoted to the study of the frescoes, from stylistic as well as iconographic and technical points of view, being able to benefit from the observations accrued following the recent restoration. The photographic atlas gives for the first time an account of the extraordinary quality of the “Master of Vignola,” certainly one of the protagonists of the late Gothic period in Emilia.

Fortress of Vignola

by Giovanni Romani and Milva Vicini
2001, Vignola Foundation
€ 13.00 pp. 100 ill.
ISBN 978-88-7866-000-7
88-7866-000-0

A meticulous description of the evocative frescoed rooms, the imposing towers and all the spaces of the Fortress of Vignola is what the authors, Giovanni Romani and Milva Vicini, have illustrated in this guidebook.
A comprehensive historical narrative and the files regarding the families who lived in the castle can satisfy the curiosity of the most attentive visitors.