Published on: 5 May 2022
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HISTORICAL SHOPS

A trip for historical shops of Ferrara

Our Hotel Annunziata, located in the city center, is an excellent starting point for exploring Ferrara, its museums, its historic center, its walls, and why not, its historic shops. They are an important testimony of culture, craftsmanship, tradition and memory; scents, colors, flavors, furnishings that some shops still retain make them unique.
The first is located in the building of the Municipal Theater of Ferrara, and is the Pistelli and Bartolucci Historical Shop; founded by Galeazzo Bartolucci in 1857 and initially a bazaar, it has specialized over time in discography, music and the sale of musical instruments. The brand of the shop took its name from the surname of the founder, Bartolucci, and from the surname of his wife, that is Pistelli. At the turn of the century, the Bartoluccis decided to sell the shop but, given its historical value, the sign and brand were not changed.
The second is the Farmacia Navarra Historical Shop, which has the oldest pharmacy furnishings in the city and which was founded in 1738 in Piazza Della Pace, now Corso Martiri Della Libertà. Traditional meeting point for pharmacists, doctors and local historians, it enjoyed great fame for the countless preparations required throughout the Kingdom of Italy. In the 1960s it was the protagonist in the film The long night of ’43, directed by Florestano Vancini and based on the story Una notte del ’43 from Giorgio Bassani’s Five stories from Ferrara collection.
The third is on the ground floor of the Municipal Residence, in Corso Martiri della Libertà, the Borsalino Historical Shop, the oldest clothing, hats and accessories boutique in Ferrara, founded in 1845. Even today the place is characterized by the ancient sign, house logo.
The Italian company, known for the production of hats, experienced great growth after obtaining the Grand Prix at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900, while today it has transformed from a hat shop to an elegant fashion shop.
The fourth is the Felloni Tessuti Historical Shop , specialized in the sale of the best fabrics, garments and clothing accessories and which was created in 1946 by two young entrepreneurs, Giancarlo and Dina, and located in via Mazzini (the tradition of textile processing in Ferrara was already flourishing in the fourteenth century, when the sector and the specific processing of wool were mainly managed by the Jewish community, which made the economy of the Este duchy flourish), in a narrow and long room, with a small window that gave light and color to the whole road. The company grew and developed quickly, so much so that in 1951 it moved to a larger shop in Piazza Trento and Trieste and, subsequently, in 1961, to its current headquarters in Via Canonica n. 6.
If you were not aware of these gems, know them or even better, come and discover them for yourself!