Audioguide by eArs

Hall of Dogs

Quiet, please; you’ve just entered a painted forest. You are standing in the Hall of Dogs inside Pennello Tower. In fact, you can see some hunting dogs among the trees on the two walls flanking the door. While one greyhound is in hot pursuit of a hare, the others are depicted facing each other, looking like they’re about to charge. So you could say that they’re one against the other, and in Italian the word against is translated as contro. This play on words can also be found in other rooms of the fortress, perhaps intended to illustrate the surname Contrari.
Now let’s get back to the hall you’re standing in. Man's best friend has always been associated with the virtues of loyalty, constancy and vigilance. In fact in ancient times, dogs were entrusted with the defence of the house and their master, as well as caring for the flock.
Did you know that in the Middle Ages it was customary for lords to own many, many dogs, used especially for hunting? The pastime was certainly a favourite among the Contraris as well. It’s almost as if you can still hear them barking as they run in the woods and meadows surrounding the fortress. Who knows how many hunting parties the lords of Vignola embarked on in their grounds? Even Marquis Nicolò III would go on the hunting expeditions during his several summer stays at the castle, followed a few years later by Duke Borso d'Este, in the company of the Marquis of Mantua, Lodovico Gonzaga and his son Federico.
Uguccione’s sons Nicolò and Ambrogio Contrari likely used this space as a study hall in the second half of the 15th century. Confirming this, the coats of arms of their respective consorts that we saw in the Ladies’ Hall appear on the vault here, flanked by the coats of arms of the Contraris and the Pardo emblem.