When you arrive in Parma you find yourself in a city with very strong European characteristics, it immediately strikes the idea of being in France and, for their style, you find typical elements of a Paris or London like baskets and lamps that decorate the public space.
Art and architecture in Parma are the best travel companions for a day dedicated to the discovery of a jewel like this; do not miss a walk in the Ducal park and a visit to the palace of the same, will allow you to immediately understand the character of the city.
Pilotta and Teatro Farnese will be waiting for you on the other side of the bridge to bring you into a vortex of architecture, archeology and painting that will almost make you forget the era in which you find yourself, on the opposite side, just outside under its high porticoes. you will witness the frivolous life and how it is built on the game for survival as the game of 3 cards.
The symbols of sacredness resisted to the sense of anti-papacy are concentrated in the marvelous Duomo and Baptistery which have within them works by Correggio that will keep the head turned up until you are able to.
The room of the Abbess has recently been reopened, this tells through its ceiling with an umbrella structure, how much charm has a woman who has chosen chastity for the artist who represented her with mythological icons of strength and integrity.
I want to dedicate a thought to a house that deserves to be visited even by non-professionals in the lyrical world, this is the birthplace of Arturo Toscanini, we need to remember Italian personalities in Italy and not leave them only to the international fame. This Maestro was revolutionary in music as much as he was tenacious in his convictions and capable of fighting one of the most terrible twentieth-century injustices like war.
What should break a day of discovery is a good meal that will also complete the cultural experience with the typical products of the province, my lunch was held at the Antica Osteria della Ghiaia, a small and very nice environment that show typicality accompanied from a jazz background.
Do not miss the taste of the ‘Torta fritta integrale’ and about this I want to clarify a question: you will find almost equal food, if not for some biological details, the same cooking procedure and the same pairing on the table, but almost to emphasize property rights you will hear them call in a thousand different ways and they will tell you that the originals are only from that area, no matter believing or not, the magic of that taste will be guaranteed in any province.
Here was the second story of WoWu that has been lost between art, music and the proud spirit of this city, now it is your turn to discover.
