Parma. Parma, a city of aristocratic cultural traditions and abounding in precious works of art and relics of its past role as capital, is famous for its illustrious native sons and the artists who used to work there: from Benedetto Antelami to Salimbene, from Correggio to Parmigianino, from Bodoni to Verdi and Toscanini and from Stendhal to Proust. It boasts a historic center with a number of highly significant monuments, in styles ranging from Romanesque to art nouveau. The enlightened rule of Napoleon's second wife Marie-Louise, when the city was the capital of the duchy of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, left a particularly deep mark. Parma is also known as the capital of the Italian food industry, famous for such inimitable products as Parma ham and Parmesan cheese. The city's Teatro Regio is a place of pilgrimage for opera lovers from all over the world, while in the environs the castle of Montechiarugolo offers a splendid medieval setting. http://www.comune.parma.it/

The Cathedral. The cathedral of Parma, like that of Modena, is set on the Via Romea, one of the most important highways of medieval Christendom and the route used by pilgrims on their way to Rome and the Holy Land. Following a serious fire, work commenced on the complete reconstruction of the building in 1076 and it was consecrated by Pope Paschal II in 1106. Thirteenth-century additions include the distyle porch of the central portal, the small loggias under the slopes of the roof, and the campanile in the Gothic style. Between the end of the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries, Antelami built the adjacent baptistery and carved its sculptural decoration, completing the design of the square in front of the cathedral. The original roof of the building, with a wooden ceiling, was replaced by groin vaults during the thirteenth century. The interior of the church was again partly modified over the course of the sixteenth century, when Correggio painted the magnificent frescoes of the dome.

The Baptistery. Between 1196 and 1216, the construction of the baptistery was entrusted to Benedetto Antelami who supervised both the building and the rich sculptural decoration, carved with the help of assistants.. The frescoes that decorate the niches of the bottom story constitute one of the most significant cycles of pictures in Northern Italy. Painted over the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth century by mostly anonymous Emilian and Lombard artists, the frescoes depict scenes from the Bible, the life of the saints, and the life of Christ. The lavish sculptural decoration of Parma Baptistery, a true compendium of the favorite themes of the Middle Ages, is completed inside by four carved lunettes, the twelve months, the seasons, and the signs of the Zodiac. The statues of months, most of them attributed to Antelami himself, are perhaps the finest sculptural works inside the baptistery. The figures are depicted carrying out rural occupations, drawing new attention to reality and nature. This is the most obvious and significant link between the work of Antelami and the French Gothic sculpture of the late twelfth century.

The Abbasse's Parlor. This is unquestionably one of the masterpieces of the high Italian Renaissance. Originally, the parlor was part of the private apartment of the abbess of the Benedictine convent of San Paolo. It was renovated and decorated from 1514 onward at the behest of Giovanna da Piacenza, under whom the nunnery went through a period of intense cultural activity. In 1519 she called in Correggio, who carried out his most important pictorial undertaking in Parma here. Given that the parlor was used to receive visitors, he chose a mythological subject: a row of putti peer out from the pergola that accompanies Diana on Her Chariot, painted on the cowl of the fireplace. The wonderful idea of the mock pergola in which the putti are playing, painted on the vault which is divided into sixteen bays set above lunettes, creates an atmosphere of refined symbiosis between nature and classical myth.

San Giovanni Evangelista. The monastic complex of San Giovanni Evangelista is made up of the church, monastery and historic pharmacy of San Giovanni. Its origins date back to the tenth century, although it is the baroque façade that determines its appearance. Along the nave runs a frieze depicting Jewish and Pagan Sacrifice, designed by Correggio in 1522/23 and executed by F. M. Rondani. Correggio was also responsible for the decorations of the half-pillars, the intrados of the fifth chapel and the crossing and above all for the dome: depicting the Death of Saint John (1520/24), accompanied by Fathers of the Church and Evangelists in the pendentives, it is the painter's true masterpiece. Another work of great value is the wooden choir (with inlays representing the city and the surrounding hills, musical instruments and objects), made by M. Zucchi and the brothers Gianfranco and Pasquale Testa (1556). The left-hand aisle houses interesting early works by Parmigianino (1522): the Saints, along with the putti and bucranes, already display the characteristic sinuous rhythm of his line in their soft clothing.

Santa Maria Della Steccata. The church of the Steccata was built to house a miraculous image of the Madonna nursing the Child, painted on the façade of a house. A fence had been erected in front of the house to control the flow of pilgrims, who flocked there in ever growing numbers owing to the miracles continually worked by the Virgin Mary. And it was from this fence (steccata in Italian) that the Madonna and the church took their name. An example of Renaissance architecture in Parma, the church has a central Greek-cross plan in the manner of Bramante and was erected between 1521 and 1539 to the design of an unknown architect. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, sent to Parma by Clement VII in 1526 to examine the city's system of defenses, drew up plans for the dome and the completion of the building. The ornaments with the related modifications and the large balustrade that runs around the arms of the cross are the work of Mauro Oddi and can be dated to near the end of the seventeenth century. The interior was decorated by a number of Parmesan Renaissance artists. On the intrados above the high altar it is still possible to see Parmigianino's last, stirring work (The Wise and Foolish Virgins). Michelangelo Anselmi painted the Coronation in 1540. At the sides, as you enter, note the two organ doors, again by Parmigianino. The dome was decorated by Bernardino Gatti (1560). Other important works include the sculptures of the tombs and the Noble Sacristy (1665) by G. B. Mascheroni and Carlo Rottini.