The Palazzo Ducale is the most imposing building in Modena — a massive Baroque palace built from 1634 for the Este dukes when they relocated their court from Ferrara. Today it houses the Military Academy of Modena, one of Italy's two officer training academies, founded by Napoleon in 1797. The academy occupies the palace in its entirety, which limits access, but the exterior and the grand courtyard can be seen, and occasional open days allow visits to the state rooms.
The building's scale gives a good sense of Este ambition: the facade is nearly 200 metres long. The ducal tradition of patronage that produced the Galleria Estense collection was cultivated in this very building, and the rooms where Velázquez's portrait of Francesco I was first hung are still standing, now used by cadets.