Psychosocial Academy

According to the University tradition, the University of Ferrara has no campus. Old and historical buildings have been restored to host the several faculties of the University, as it was in 1391, when the University of Ferrara was founded. This means that the students are part of the town and the town embraces the students during their university experience.

For these reasons the Psychosocial Academy of the 8^th World Congress of Psycho-Oncology will be hosted in  some of the University buildings that are part of the history of Ferrara.

Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony of the Psycho Academy will be hosted in the Este Palace of Saint Francis, known as Renata of France Palace, the main seat of the Rectorate of the University of Ferrara, 9 Via Savonarola. It is the administrative center of the University. In the monumental great hall of  the palace, diplomas and degrees are presented during a formal and traditional ceremony. It is also the location for many national and international conventions and conferences. Renata of France Palace was built between 1475 and 1485, under the direction of the architect Biagio Rossetti. It takes its original name from the fact that it was constructed in the gardens belonging to the Franciscan monks.

Its rooms accommodated Isabella of Aragon and after Duke Ercole II of Este got married with Renata of France, daughter of king Louis XII of France, the name of the building changed to Renata of France Palace. Renata lived mostly away from the rest of the court because she was suspected to nurture Calvinist sympathies.

From the end of the 16th century, the palace was inhabited by many of Ferrara's nobility and aristocracy. It underwent major rebuilding in the 18th century, when an adjoining house belonging to the Savonarola family was annexed. More recently, Count Cini donated the palace to the city council, who in turn gave it to the University in perpetuity in 1963. Inside the palace visitors will appreciate the colonnaded 14th century quadrangle, the grand staircase, the great hall and the frescoed rooms on the first floor.

Workshops

The workshops will take place at the former Convent of San Girolamo dei Gesuati, 40 Via Madama, a 5-minute walk from the Renata of France Palace (MAP). This building is related in several ways with both the history of the city and the educational purposes of the University of Ferrara.

Historically, the Order of Gesuati were founded between 1360 and 1364 by the merchant Giovanni Colombini from Siena. Orginating as a secular movement, the Gesuati volunteered to care for the sick and the poor, teaching the Gospel and spreading peace, poverty, humility, in the name of Jesus (Gesù, hence the name Gesuati). The Gesuati practiced the arts of painting and minitaure, and they were  especially knowledgeable in the use of herbs to cure the sick. Convents of the Gesuatit emerged in several towns, inlcuding in Ferrara. The Convent was built 1425, in the Contrada di Santa Maria in Vado, by Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano. He was commissioned by the bishop of Bologna to create a manifest which he called "ordo et forma morum quos et per consuetudines observat congregatio pauperum qui vulgariter Gesuati nuncupantur". This transforme the movement from a small fraternity into a large congregation during the 16^th century. The protector of the Convent in Ferrara was San Girolamo, whose church is next to the complex of the cloisters of the convent. The order of Gesuati and Giovanni Tavelli are strongly connected to the history of Ferrara. In fact Giovanni Tavelli became the bishop of Ferrara and in 1440 obtained permission to built a hospital from Pope Eugenio IV (Papal edict  Licet ex debito). The hospital was modelled after the hospital S. Maria Nuova in Florence. In 1443 he obtained the monastery Sant’Anna from Basilians in order to turn it into the Sant’Anna Hospital  which was completed in 1445.

The convent of San Girolamo dei Gesuati continued to care the sick and the poor fro centuries until 1668 when Pope Clemente IX elminated the oredr of Gesuati. The convent went to the Carmelitani Scalzi of Santa Teresa, then to the Union of Sacerdoti Infermi e finally, in 1950, it became the Convent of San Girolamo dei Carmelitani Scalzi.

The layout of the convent is very similar to the original one with three cloisters and the church, which was previously the Oratory of Gesuati (known as Oratorio dei Gesuati  di San Girolamo o dei Poveri di Cristo). The convent is now associated with residential and educational activiteis planned by the University of Ferrara. Its location is convenient (a walking distance from the University, the Hospital and the center of the city), peaceful, and practical (with 40 rooms to accommadate even large groups, and 7 conference rooms).