Ferrara, St. Paul's Church reopens after 10 years. From 2021 to start a long restoration

After more than a decade, the church of San Paolo, twice injured by the earthquake, reopens in Ferrara. The ancient building in the Este court collapsed almost entirely in the violent 1570 earthquake and was slightly damaged in the 2012 earthquake.

The church will be temporarily open to the public on Sept. 25-26-27 and Oct. 2-3-4, 2020, as part of the festival Riaperture, an initiative that for the past four years has allowed photographers and enthusiasts to enter places usually closed. This year the festival is dedicated to the theme “Wandering.”

The church of St. Paul’s will be the focus of local restoration and strengthening work: the site is scheduled to open in late spring-early summer next year, and the work will last about 550 days.

Along with St. Paul’s, six venues are involved in the Reopenings initiative this double weekend and will also host exhibitions by famous photographers: the ’Pozzuolo del Friuli’ barracks and cavalry, Zanardi Palace, and the former St. Julian’s Church. Factory Grisu will also open to the public.

“We managed to confirm the event by postponing it. And this is the first good news,” said Riaperture founder Giacomo Brini. “The second is that the festival has an increasingly international character, with six exhibitions by foreign authors. As for the venues: the big news are St. Paul’s and Zanardi, which, together with the other venues, make up a very broad and effective offer in terms of both themes and places.”

“The consolidation and redevelopment works of the church, which is owned by the parish, will have the Municipality of Ferrara as the contracting station and, for the go-ahead, we are waiting for a final opinion from the Emilia-Romagna Region,” explained Councillor Andrea Maggi. "This is a significant intervention, both in terms of the historical-religious value of the church and from an economic point of view, in fact we are talking about an allocation of 3.8 million euros, 3million of which will be financed with funds from the Ducato Estense and 800 thousand euros with post-earthquake funds. Once the works are completed, the entire monumental compartment of St. Paul’s will be totally upgraded: the major cloister has in fact already undergone interventions and is already usable, the minor one is being completed, for a total amount of 2.3 million euros."

Ferrara, St. Paul's Church reopens after 10 years. From 2021 to start a long restoration

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