BARTOLINO da Novara - b. 0 Novara, d. ~1410 Ferrara

Italian military architect and engineer, son of the master Giovanni da Novara. He is first mentioned in 1368 when Niccolò II d’Este temporarily sent him to Mantua to his ally Guido Gonzaga for certain works. Other documents mention him in 1373-76 as favoured by Alberto, the successor of Niccolò II in Ferrara. Between 1385 and 1387 he was commissioned to build the Castello Estense in Ferrara, which he built on a square plan with corner towers, the traditional type of the era. Always in Ferrara, in 1392 repaired the tribune of the church of St. Francis where he also built a chapel for himself, at his own expense, and one for Alberto d’Este. In 1395 he was invited to the court of Francesco Gonzaga in Mantua where he made designs for the castle, and at the beginning of the fifteenth century participated in several major architectural projects.

In 1402 he began the construction of the Castello Finale Emilia, Modena. In 1404 he was responsible for the construction of defensive bastions along the Po. As a military engineer, he had assignments by the Visconti of Milan and the Medici of Florence.

General view

The brick-built Castello Estense in Ferrara was begun by Niccolò II d’Este and was rapidly completed by the military architect Bartolino da Novara. Despite additional upper storeys and constant internal modifications, the essence of what Bartolino did is clear. The main buildings completely surround a square courtyard and act as curtain walls. The whole is dominated by the much higher towers at the corners. Of these, the Torre dei Leoni dates from a preexisting thirteenth-century structure and is larger than the others.