For over a century, those strolling along Corso della Giovecca have seen it only from the outside, or at most from the bank’s teller window. From Thursday, October 8, however, Palazzo Barbantini-Koch, the historic headquarters of the Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara, opens its doors to everyone with a new function. It becomes the Polo culturale di Ferrara de La Galleria BPER, a space dedicated to art, the memory of the city, and research.
After the restoration work started in 2023, the building returns to the city with a permanent collection tracing five centuries of Ferrara and Emilian art and a temporary exhibition dedicated to flowers in Italian painting. The hub will also host educational activities, training, and study spaces.
For those who love Ferrara, or are thinking of visiting it this autumn, there is one more reason to set off on a journey.
A new identity for Palazzo Barbantini-Koch in Ferrara
The palace represents a piece of Ferrara’s city history. It was built between 1907 and 1910 following the project of engineer Luigi Barbantini, under the supervision of architect Gaetano Koch, and was inaugurated in 1910 in the presence of Vittorio Emanuele III. It had been conceived to give the Savings Bank a solid and representative headquarters, worthy of its role in the city.
As of today, October 8, 2026, the palace changes function without erasing its past. The Barbantini-Koch becomes part of the “BPER Cultural Hubs. A system of dispersed heritage”, the network that connects historic buildings of the banking group and that also includes Palazzo San Carlo in Modena and Palazzo Farinosi-Branconi in L’Aquila. The aim is to transform long-guarded venues and collections into places accessible to the public.
What to See, Tickets and Hours
The public opening is set for Thursday, October 8. On the noble floor lies the permanent route “A Chest of History. Art in Ferrara between Past and Present”, which gathers 135 works including paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints, distributed across eighteen rooms.
We begin with Ferrarese Renaissance figures, with names such as Domenico Panetti, l’Ortolano, the Garofalo, and Girolamo da Carpi, and arrive at the twentieth century with Gaetano Previati, Filippo de Pisis, and Achille Funi. Among the most precious pieces is the “Portrait of Commander Gabriele Tadino”, attributed to Titian and dated 1538, which had previously belonged to the Cassa di Risparmio.
Until January 31, 2027, the palace will also host the exhibition “Vanitas. Flowers and Symbols, from Hayez to Casorati”, curated by Fernando Mazzocca and Elena Lissoni. The more than forty works on display, signed by Hayez, Segantini, Previati, and Casorati among others, use the flower as a throughline to speak of beauty, desire, and the passage of time, from Romanticism to Symbolism. The route is enriched by verses from Leopardi, Manzoni, and Pascoli and by olfactory elements linked to the floral world.
The palace is open on Thursdays from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM; from Friday to Sunday it operates on continuous hours from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, while Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday it remains closed. The last admission is allowed one hour before closing; a full-price ticket costs €10 and the reduced ticket €8, both purchasable online from the official site by choosing the date and time slot.
