The cycle titled The Myth of Ferrara, made between 1934 and 1937 in the Sala dell’Arengo in Ferrara’s city hall is one of Funi’s masterpieces, a sort of grandiose magical box painted on all four walls and the ceiling.

The artist, aided by various assistants including Felicita Frai, proves himself a worthy heir to the great masters of the Ferrara School, illustrating the city’s history between myth and legend. In fact, he describes episodes from Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered and Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso Furioso as well as some of the other most famous myths tied to Ferrara. The results are visionary compositions such as St George Slaying the Dragon or the fantastic lyricism of The Besieged City, Angel and the Myth of Phaethon. Vigorous and colossal are the figures of Hercules, Mars, Mercury, Apollo, Apollo inspired by Greco-Roman statues.

With a poetic essentiality similar to that of Piero della Francesca, Funi becomes the figurative voice of Ariosto and Tasso, bringing their tales about the Estense city to life on its walls.