Ariosto Hall: Amusements in Alcina court: dances and ablutions

Eastern Wall. The Hall of Ariosto, whose name comes from the autor of the text which inspires the whole pictorical cycle of the room, was painted in fresco by Girolamo Mirola and Jacopo Zanguidi, also known as "Il Bertoja": their degree of collaboration is not clear because while some sources claim they worked together, others assert they occupied the room in two different times. The subject of the room is the love story between Ruggero and the enchantress Alcina told by Ludovico Ariosto in the canto VI and VII of the Orlando Furioso. In particular in the room is represented the moment where Ruggero spends his time as the lover of Alcina nearby the castle of the enchantress. Although some part went lost, is possible to confirm that the story starts in the western side and follows in a clockwise direction to the northern part, then to the eastern one and finishes in the southern part: the cycle continues and ends with the fresco in the ceiling, representing ladies and warriors who flirt and hunt in a fantastic landscape. In the bottom part of the walls a skerting board is finely decorated with cartouches, cherubs and other architectonic elements.