Castello Estense, Ferrara

Ferrara’s only completely moated castle, Castello Estense, remains the city’s architectural heart. Its four massive towers, each 30 meters tall, enclose a courtyard that has hosted Este dukes for over 600 years. The castle’s brick walls, completed in 1440, survived multiple earthquakes and sieges. While Castel Nuovo () boasts a Renaissance triumphal arch, Castello Estense preserves an earlier, unbroken medieval layout – its original drawbridge still spans the 12-meter-wide moat.