This road is the site of many important local memories, as well as notable buildings.

It had two other names in the past: Strada di Voltapaletto, as it was a continuation of the Via of the same name, and Strada di Belvedere, ‘because before the royal delizia of that name was built, outside Porta Po, there was a structure near [the Basilica of] San Francesco called Belvedere (beautiful view), where the Este-built Palazzo Pareschi building and Casa Romei now stand’ (G. Melchiorri, Nomenclatura ed Etimologia delle Piazze e delle Strade di Ferrara e Ampliamenti all’Opera di Gerolamo Melchiorri, edited by C. Bassi, 2G Editrice, Ferrara 2009, p. 135s.). The current name, Via Girolamo Savonarola, was given to the road by the Ferrara City Council on 7 February 1860. It references the childhood home of Girolamo Savonarola, the Dominican friar and preacher known for his political activities, for which he was hanged and his body burned in Florence in an ‘unjust sentence’ (as is written on the plaque commemorating his execution in the capital of Tuscany, in Piazza della Signoria). Savonarola, a naturalised Florentine though born in Ferrara, spent his first 20 years at no. 19 (which was built in 1447), as described by the commemorative plaque above the entrance. The building was incorporated for some time in the old Orphan’s Hospital. Today it is now the University of Ferrara's Theatre Centre, part of the Department of Human and Social Sciences.

Savonarola wasn’t the only illustrious citizen to be born in this street in Ferrara. At no. 10, a plaque notes the house where celebrated painter Giovanni Boldrini was born. Lesser known to most, but famous in the world of orthopaedics, is Marino Ortolani, originally from Altedo though a resident of and active in Ferrara. He passed away in 1983, as mentioned by the commemorative inscription on the tablet installed the year after his death by the Rotary Club at no. 15, where his hospital was located. At no. 5, on the other hand, ‘the famous archaeologist, palaeographer and numismatist, canonist, and fellow citizen Giuseppe Antonelli Senior, lived and died’ (G. Melchiorri, p. 136).

The inscription on the corner of Casa Romei, at the intersection with Via Praisolo, commemorates the 1508 ambush that took the life of Ercole Strozzi, ‘a renowned poet and philologist’, son of Tito Vespasiano Strozzi, a poet in his own right who is remembered with another plaque in front of what was his family home at no. 15, placed close to the corner of Via Pergolato.

Heading down the road (starting from the point where Via Voltapaletto turns into Via Savonarola, heading towards Via Cisterna del Follo), the parvise and the Church of San Francesco appear immediately on the left. On the same side, at no. 9, is Palazzo Renata di Francia, built in the fifteenth century by Ercole I d’Este, whose coat of arms is still visible on the capitals of the pillars flanking the portal. The original building was designed by Pietro Benvenuto degli Ordini and later updated by Biagio Rossetti, though the current structure makes it impossible to take measure of the latter's contributions. Along with Parco Pareschi, over time it has changed owners and uses, most recently being used as part of the University of Ferrara. That is, until the earthquake that shook Emilia on 20 May 2012, an event that caused its closure, awaiting restoration.

Across the street no. 30 is Casa Romei. Now a museum, it is a wonderful example of a noble home, complete with a stately courtyard. Probably designed by architect Pietrobono Brasavola, the building's Medieval and Renaissance elements are exquisitely balanced.

At the crossing with Via Pergolato, the street widens into a small square that is today ‘named after Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano, Bishop of Ferrara and founder of the Sant’Anna Hospital, whose remains are venerated at the church’ that faces it, preceded by a grassy parvise’ (C. Bassi, in G. Melchiorri, p. 253). Dedicated to Saint Jerome, construction of the Church of San Girolamo began in 1703 and was completed in 1712. Unfortunately the church was damaged by the 2012 earthquake, and its pinnacles can still be seen on the grass in front of the church, yet to be restored and put back in their original places.

In front of the church, at no. 15, in addition to the plaques dedicated to Marino Ortolani and Tito Vespasiano Strozzi, an inscription reminds passers-by that the Thalassaemia Centre of Ferrara had its head offices here until 1994. The Centre carried out important work in the fight against the blood disorder, once common in the Province of Ferrara.

The building at no. 27 was the long-time headquarters of the Humanities Department of the University of Ferrara. The building facing it, at no. 38, also belongs to the University, having once been the site of offices and a study hall. Both were damaged by the 2012 earthquake and need to be retrofitted. Built by Girolamo da Carpi in 1542, the latter building, Palazzo Contughi-Gulinelli, immediately stands out for its façade, which features plaques near the top row of windows that include extracts from Adagia by Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Wrapping up the list of commemorative plaques in Via Savonarola is that describing the hospitality offered by Countess Carolina Cicogna Giglioli to Risorgimento patriot Ugo Bassi, to whom one of the streets at that intersection is dedicated.

Giorgio Bassani offers us a snapshot of Via Savonarola in one of his most famous novels: The Gold-Rimmed Spectacles.

Although a work of fiction, the vividness of Bassani's description and its details (visual as well as olfactory and auditory), could have easily been inspired by the author's first-hand experience. He was quite familiar with those streets, as his family's home was at the point where Via Savonarola becomes Via Cisterna del Follo (more precisely, his house was at 1 Via Cisterna del Follo) As such, it is no coincidence hat some of his most famous characters ‘lived’ on the nearby streets.

I descended Via Savonarola in the sunny quietness of one o’clock in the afternoon. A few people were scattered along the pavements; from open windows came snatches of radio music and cooking smells. Walking, I raised my eyes every so often to the perfect blue sky against which were sharply etched the profiles of cornices and guttering. Still wet with the rain, the roofs around the small square of the church of San Girolamo seemed more brown than red, almost black.’

(Giorgio Bassani, ‘The Gold-Rimmed Spectacles’, in The Novel of Ferrara, translated by Jamie McKendrick, Penguin Classics, 2018, e-book location 3917)