Bologna - Parma Travel Guides | Bologna | Sub Regions | Bologna - Parma

The attributes of Parma read like a mouthwatering shopping list from the local delicatessen: Parma ham, Parmesan cheese and the Barilla empire that makes half the pasta in Italy. Sensuous island of affluence, elegance, sophistication, fine opera and gourmet food, the people of Parma are convinced that their city is the centre of the universe. Retaining the snobbery which came with French rule under Napoleon's wife, Maria Luigia, they regard their town as 'la petite capitale' of Italy.

Aside from strolling and window-shopping through the sunny, yellow-tinged aristocratic streets of the Farnese dynasty that ruled here from the mid-16th to the mid-18th century, Parma has a number of imperatives on the sights shopping list.

Sights

Duomo

piazza Duomo. Daily 0900-1200, 1500-1900.

Parma's cathedral is a beautifully delicate wonder of 11th-century Romaneqsue architecture with three rows of loggias and containing famous frescoes and friezes by the artists Correggio (the Assumption in the central cupola) and his pupil, Parmigianino, in the southern transept. The beautiful octagonal baptistery (hours as above), built in red Veronese marble with turrets, elaborate portals and a surrounding frieze is the masterwork of the architect, Benedetto Antelami and was completed in 1196.

Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista

piazza Duomo. 0600-1200 3.30-2000.

To the east of the Duomo this church contains the famous frescoes by Correggio of the Vision of St. John.

Camera di San Paolo

Off via Melloni.

The back room of this former convent is famous for the daring and sensuous collection of frescoes commissioned by the abbess Giovanna and painted in 1518 by a pupil of Correggio, Antonio Allegri.

Palazzo della Pilotta

piazza Pilotta.

Unmissable by its size, this former palace of the Farnese dynasty is now the home to a complex of museums, the most important of which is the city's art gallery, the Pinacoteca (Tue-Sat 0900-1400, Sun 0900-1300, €5), where many spectacular works by Correggio, Parmigianino are on display, among others by the Carracci, Tiepolo, Canaletto and Leonardo da Vinci. Also within the Palazzo della Pilotta is the Teatro Farnese, (entry included on gallery ticket) entirely rebuilt in wood as it was before being bombed in 1944.

Across the river Parma stands the 16th-century Palazzo Ducale, former residence of Ottaviano Farnese, among an enormous and relaxing park of 18th-century gardens.

Casa Toscanini

borgo R Tanzi. Tue and Sat 1000-1300, 1500-1800, Wed-Fri, 1000-1300. Free.

Toscanini's birthplace: Parma was also the home of the musicians and composers, Verdi and Paganini.

Teatro Regio

via Garibaldi 16a, T 0521-218685/218678.

The musical tradition of the city is characterized by the opera house which attracts exacting audiences not afraid to boo during bad performances and organize claques (fan clubs) in support of favourites – in tune with opera's origins.

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