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Parma, has 170.000 inhabitants and it is situated in Emilia Romagna region. Its province is characterized by vast and beautiful mountainous areas and covered by several castles.

Its historical city centre has some particular important monuments, from roman to liberty style. In fact, it has been historically marked by the enlightened government of Maria Luigia, the wife of Napoleon, when it was the capital of the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla.

Parma, has been an important city in the Middle Ages and for Romanesque art, famous for its most illustrious citizen and for artists who work within her, from Benedetto Antelami to Salimbene, from Correggio to Parmigianino, from Bodoni to Verdi and Toscanini from Stendhal to Proust- it became a reference point in Italy and in Europe as a refined centre of art, economy and culture. This Town is totally different from any of the many beautiful cities that attract visitors to Italy.

Nowadays Parma is famous as the capital food centre of Italy, for its inimitable products and in particular for its Prosciutto of Parma, cured pork meats and its famous Parmesan cheese, the Wines of the Colli of Parma, the Black Truffles of Fragno, ensure a high quality traditional cuisine.

Parma to see

The Cathedral and the Baptistery are among the major monuments of the 12^th and 13^th centuries and together form the most beautiful Romanesque square in Italy; in the 17^th century the Farnese Theatre was the largest covered theatre in Europe; the neoclassical Regio Theatre is one of the leading Opera houses in the world; the churches of St. John, with its cloisters, and the "Steccata", with its monumental Sacristy; the castles of Torrechiara and Montechiarugolo, of Fontanellato and of Soragna, of Bardi and of San Secondo, the Ducal Palaces in Parma, in Colorno and in Sala Baganza, the National Gallery and the historical museum, the Ancient Pharmacy and the Camera of San Paolo, the Palatine Library and the Bodoni Museum of Perfumes, are some of the beautiful landmarks of the "Renaissances" in Parma. The Charterhouse (Certosa) founded in 1225 by the Bishop of Spoleto, Rolando Taverna, as a monastery of the Carthusian order which occupied it for approximately 500 years.