Practical Information for visiting Parma

The centre is flat, compact and best covered on foot — almost everything is within twenty minutes of the cathedral square. Parma is also a serious cycling city, with bike lanes and cheap hire.

City buses cover the outskirts and the station, which is a fifteen-minute walk north of the centre. Much of the historic core is restricted to residents’ traffic, so leave a car outside it.

For the province you will want a car. The dairies, the curing houses at Langhirano and the castles of the Parma valleys are spread across the countryside and served by infrequent buses built around school timetables.

Trains run along the Via Emilia to Bologna, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Piacenza, which makes a day in any of the neighbouring food cities straightforward without driving.

Parma sits on the Milan-Bologna mainline, so it is well connected for a city its size: Milan is about an hour and a quarter, Bologna under an hour, Modena about half an hour. High-speed services stop at Bologna and Milan rather than here, so most journeys involve a regional leg. The nearest airports are Bologna and Milan Linate, with Parma’s own small airport handling limited traffic. The A1 motorway runs past the city, which is the usual approach by road.

Parma is a safe and prosperous city with low crime. Ordinary care with bags around the railway station and the market is all that is needed.

Bicycle theft is common, as in most northern Italian university cities; lock a hire bike properly.

Winter fog is the genuine hazard, reducing visibility on the plain roads to very little and making the A1 dangerous. If you are driving in December or January, allow for it.

In summer, the combination of heat and humidity on the plain is heavier than the thermometer suggests, and the same stillness that traps the heat traps the pollution.

No vaccinations or special precautions are needed and tap water is safe to drink. Pharmacies are throughout the centre with a rota for nights and holidays.

Parma has a large university teaching hospital. EU and UK visitors should carry a valid EHIC or GHIC.

The one local consideration is winter air quality, which is among the worst in Europe during settled weather and can matter for asthma and respiratory conditions. Summer humidity is the other; the Apennine foothills half an hour south are noticeably better on both counts.

The single emergency number across Italy is 112, covering police, fire and ambulance, with English-speaking operators. 118 still reaches medical services directly.

In the Apennines south of the city, mountain rescue is reached through the same number; give a valley and an altitude where you can.

Carabinieri and municipal police are in the centre. Consulates are in Milan or Bologna.