Parma
Discover Parma
A concise introduction to Parma, its geography, history and culture.
Introduction
Parma is a city of about two hundred thousand people in western Emilia Romagna, on the Via Emilia, the Roman road that still runs arrow-straight across the region and along which most of its cities sit.
The centre is compact, flat and walkable, divided by the Parma torrent into the old city on the east bank and the Oltretorrente on the west. Its landmarks cluster in two places: the cathedral square, with the baptistery beside it, and the vast Palazzo della Pilotta, an unfinished Farnese palace.
Parma was capital of its own duchy for three centuries, which is why a city this size has a court theatre, a ducal park and an opera tradition out of proportion to its population.
The food industry is not a sideline here. The province is the production zone for two of the most valuable protected foods in Europe, and the institutions that certify them are headquartered in the city.