In the early Middle Ages, the area in which Santa Francesca Romana stands was a marshland bordering
the bed of the ancient course of the Po River.
After the route of Ficarolo, the city branch of the river
gradually silted up, and the floodplain became land on which Ferrara began to be built.
The
first church, on the site of the present one, dates from 1569; the final extension, partly attributed
to Aleotti, took place in the 17th century.
Since then, Santa Francesca Romana has had a single hall,
with presbytery, high altar and choir in the apse: a typical seventeenth-century scheme of churches for
preaching.
The pictorial decor includes Christ Crucified and the Patriarchs in Limbo by Ludovico
Carracci, the most important painting made for Ferrara in the 17th century: note the dramatic nature of the
faces and gestures of the characters, due to the contrast between light and darkness.
