Venue
Piazza Castello, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
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Incendio del Castello Estense, Ferrara guide
Ferrara's castle set ablaze at midnight.
In short
The Incendio del Castello Estense traditionally fills Piazza Castello on the night of 31 December, with the next edition confirmed by the Comune di Ferrara, usually in December. It suits travellers who want a New Year's Eve with a historic backdrop: fireworks and light pour from the moated castle to music. Tens of thousands attend, so arrive early.
On New Year's Eve, Ferrara sets fire to its own castle, or at least makes it look that way. Fireworks and jets of light burst from every side of the moated Castello Estense while a packed Piazza Castello counts down to midnight. Locals simply call it the Incendio, and it has become the city's way of opening the year.
The show is a staged blaze set to music, with a new soundtrack each time and a finale the crowd sings along to. It is run by the Comune di Ferrara with local partners, and it has drawn tens of thousands of people in recent editions.
What makes it special is the backdrop. Few Italian cities can greet midnight in front of a fourteenth-century fortress still surrounded by water, and fewer still turn that fortress into the centrepiece of the party.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Where: Ferrara, Italy
Venue: Castello Estense
Held: Every year
Type of event: Party Events, Live Events, Cultural Events
Currency: Euro (EUR, €)
Time zone: Central European Time, UTC+1 (UTC+2 in summer)
Language: Italian
Map
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Warm clothing for hours standing outside
Most of the night is spent standing still in an open square in late December, close to the water of the moat. Wear proper winter layers, a hat and shoes you can stand in for hours. Gloves help when you are filming the finale.
Eat before you head to the square. Once the crowd has settled, leaving to find food means losing your spot.
Meeting points and keeping children close
- Agree a meeting point with your group away from Piazza Castello before the countdown. Phones become unreliable once the square fills.
- Keep children close and on your side of any barrier. The press of people peaks at midnight and again as everyone leaves.
- The last edition was policed by the city, the prefecture and more than 133 security staff. Follow their directions at entry points and on the way out.
- Keep bags small and zipped. Big crowds attract pickpockets in every city.
Paid dinners and quieter viewing options
If standing in a packed square is not for you, there are gentler options. The paid dinners include a reserved viewing area, which suits older travellers and families with young children. The city has also streamed the show live on the social channels of the Comune di Ferrara and Ferrara Tua, so anyone stuck in a hotel room can still see the castle burn at midnight.
What happens on the day
- Evening
Music in the square
A live band and a Radio Bruno show warm up the crowd for hours before midnight.
- Midnight
The castle burns
Fireworks and fountains of light rise from all four sides of the castle, timed to a soundtrack, for about fifteen minutes. In the latest edition roughly 2,000 fireworks went up and the crowd sang Vasco Rossi's Albachiara as the finale faded.
- After midnight
The square stays full
Nobody goes home straight away, and the noise carries well into the first hours of January.
Booking a dinner with a view or watching free in the square
Standing in Piazza Castello costs nothing and needs no ticket, so the real decisions are where you eat and where you sleep. In the last edition the city sold two dinners tied to the night. One was served at the Imbarcaderi del Castello, where guests sat down at 19:30. The other was the Gran Galà in the Ridotto of the Teatro Comunale, whose windows face the castle. Both were booked through the inferrara.it portal, and booking was compulsory.
Give the trip more than one evening. Last season the Christmas market in Piazza Trento e Trieste stayed open until 6 January, and a New Year's Day concert at the Teatro Comunale Claudio Abbado began at 16:30. Our guide to Ferrara has ideas for the quieter days either side of the party.
The history of the Castello Estense
The Castello Estense began as a defence against the city it now entertains. Niccolò II d'Este ordered it in 1385, after a revolt over taxes and floods ended with one of his officials lynched by the crowd. He wanted walls and water between his family and their subjects. Bartolino da Novara built it around an older watchtower, the Torre dei Leoni, linking it to three new towers and ringing the whole block with a moat crossed by drawbridges.
Fire is part of the building's own story. A blaze in 1544 pushed Duke Ercole II to transform the fortress into the residence you see today, and local accounts describe the New Year show as an echo of the castle burning. The effect is theatre, not reenactment. For a quarter of an hour the seat of the Este dukes becomes a stage, and almost the whole town gathers in one place to watch it.
The habit is stubborn. In 2020, with no audience allowed in the square, the show still went ahead around the moat. It was streamed, and the Eurovision feed carried it to more than 300 television stations, which tells you how much the city cares about keeping the date.
Getting there
Flying in
Bologna Guglielmo Marconi is the closest major airport, about 50 km away. Venice Marco Polo can also work if the fares suit you.
Airport to Ferrara
The Ferrara Bus&Fly shuttle runs from Bologna airport to Ferrara station and on to Viale Cavour, taking about an hour; check its New Year's Eve timetable. Or ride the Marconi Express monorail to Bologna Centrale, seven minutes, then a regional train to Ferrara, 30 to 50 minutes.
By train
From Venice allow one and a half to two and a half hours, from Florence two to three hours.
Station to the castle
Ferrara station sits outside the walls, about a 20-minute walk from the centre. Urban buses 6, 9 and 11 also head towards the centre if you have luggage.
On the night
Inside the walls, walk or cycle; bikes can be rented at the station. After the show thousands leave the square at once, so agree a meeting point with your group before midnight.
Where to stay during the festival
Rooms inside the walls go first. Staying close means you can walk home after midnight and skip the hunt for a taxi with thirty thousand other people. The ring of walls is only about 9 km around, so even a hotel near the station leaves a short stroll.
Book a cancellable rate until the city confirms the show, since restoration work on the castle could interrupt the tradition.
Weather and what to pack
Ferrara on the last night of the year is cold, often still and sometimes foggy, as the Po plain often is in winter. On the 1991-2020 normals in Wikipedia's Ferrara table, December averages a high of 7.1°C and a low of 1.1°C, and January drops to 0.3°C at night. December rain is about 52 mm for the month.
Standing in an open square for several hours makes it feel colder than the numbers suggest.
Worth packing
- A warm coat, hat and gloves
- Thermal layers for hours outdoors
- Ear defenders for children
- Waterproof shoes for damp cobbles
- A small torch for the walk home
- A phone power bank for meeting up after midnight
Car hire in Ferrara
Airport transfer to Incendio del Castello Estense, Ferrara
Met at arrivals at Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) and driven door to door to Castello Estense.
- Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) → Castello Estense
- 118 km · 85 min
Restaurants and food in Italy
Places to eat in Italy before or after the celebrations.
Cantina Do Mori
Sestiere San Polo 429, 30125 Venice, Italy
Cuisine:VenetianCicchetti
- Dine-in
- Bar
- Counter seating
L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele
Via Cesare Sersale 1/7, 80139 Naples, Italy
Cuisine:Neapolitan pizzaPizzeria
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina
Via dei Giubbonari 21, 00186 Rome, Italy
Cuisine:RomanItalian
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Counter seating
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Need help?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
Yes. The square in front of the castle is open to everyone without a ticket. Only the dinners with a reserved view, held in recent years at the Imbarcaderi and the Ridotto of the Teatro Comunale, cost money and need booking through the inferrara.it portal.
The countdown has started at 23:55 and the fireworks follow on the stroke of midnight. To find a spot with a clear view of the towers, aim to arrive by around half past ten.
The Comune di Ferrara organises it with Ferrara Tua and Ferrara Expo, backed by the province, the chamber of commerce and the Emilia-Romagna region. Radio Bruno has provided the music in the square before and after the fireworks.
It does. In the latest edition Radio Bruno turned the square into its Danceland dance party with DJs, and Piazza Castello stayed busy well past one in the morning.
The fireworks are staged to look as if the fortress is on fire. The idea plays on the castle's past, since a real blaze in the sixteenth century led the Este dukes to rebuild it as a residence.
Yes. Last season the Orchestra a Plettro Gino Neri gave a New Year's Day concert at the Teatro Comunale in the afternoon, and the Christmas market and winter park stayed open until Epiphany.
The museum route was due to stay open until 11 January 2026 before the works began, and parts may now be closed for some time. Check the castle's own website before planning a visit inside.
Booking
No announcement had been made at the time of writing. The castle faces a long restoration, and the city has warned that the works could interrupt the tradition. Watch the Comune di Ferrara announcements in December.
Getting there
You can reach the city on the A13 motorway, but parking near the centre on New Year's Eve is hard and leaving afterwards is slow. Most visitors are better off arriving by train and walking in from the station.
Families & accessibility
The fireworks are loud and the crowd is dense, so small children are happier at the edges of the square or at one of the dinners with a reserved viewing area. Ear defenders are worth packing.