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| Parma: lively city; of art end culture |
Parma is one of the most beautiful cities of Italy. This place provokes sensuality , because satisfies all the senses and a refined joy of living. It isn’t a case that Parma is the world-wide capital of music and gastronomy (excellent). Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest composer of all the times, is born here. About gastronomy, just to cite two superstars of the territory: Parmigiano Reggiano DOP and Prosciutto di Parma DOP.
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| ART END CULTURE |
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 She was called Marie Louise of Hapsburg. She was beautiful, powerful, and had lived in the most exciting cities and courts of Europe. However when the Austrian Empress arrived in Parma in 1816, she fell in love with this land and never left. Many reminders remain of the Sovereign of the Grand Duchy of Parma: The Teatro Regio (1821-29), dedicated to music, commissioned by her. The Teatro, famous throughout the world, reaffirmed the fact that the people of Parma lived in a beautiful capital. The Ducal Palace, her residence with its frescoes and decoration; an immense park that the beloved Sovereign decided to open to her people; the Glauco Lombardi Museum with its collection of antiques; all remain today to remind us of the life, clothing and art of the Parmesan Duchy from 1748 to 1859.
 Parma offers much to see as well as to taste. The starting place is the Medieval city square, site of the Duomo (Cathedral). The church (1059) with its classic "hut" facade and its double line of loggias is one of the most important Romanesque churches in Italy. It is also famed for the beauty of its interior: the cupola with the frescoes painted by Correggio from 1526 to 1530 is a whirlpool of light and clouds, angels and archangels. In the same square is the Baptistery, designed by the greatest sculptor and architect of the Medieval Era, Benedetto Antelami. Its original octagonal Romanesque construction actually anticipates the Gothic style, seen in the vertical development of the structure. However the excitement doesn't stop there: there is also the magnificent XVI Century Palazzo della Pilotta in the Piazzale della Pace. Built under the orders of Ranuccio I di Farnese, it was designed to provide a series of services. It offered a stable, a barn, a theater, barracks and a library.
 Today it is an essential stop as it holds the Galleria Nazionale, one of Italy's most important and admired galleries, due both to the quantity as well as the quality of the works held by it: Leonardo da Vinci, Beato Angelico, Correggio, Tintoretto, Giulio Romano. Inside the palace is the famous Teatro Farnese, one of the most stimulating historic stages of the world, made completely of wood and rich in antique stage props.
Music is the lifeblood of the city, the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi, the Teatro Regio, great opera, as well as Arturo Toscanini, another famous figure from Parma (1867.1957) and Niccolò Paganini, who chose Parma as his home and after whom the new Renzo Piano Auditorium was named, rebuilt from an old sugar refinery. And of course one must not forget the Casa della Musica inside the Renaissance Palazzo Cusani, the first music museum in Italy and center of studies and valuable documentation. |
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