One of the most beautiful cities in Europe, Parma Italy is often overlooked by travelers visiting Milan (80 miles north) and Florence (120 miles south). Blessed with colorful Parma hotels, restaurants, art and music, the city's cultural contributions to the world include artists Correggio, Parmigianino and Paolo Toschi, film director Bernardo Bertolucci and composers Giuseppe Verdi and Arturo Toscanini.

With a population of 200,000, Parma is nestled in the fertile valley of the Po River deep in the heart of the richest of all Italian provinces - the Emilia-Romagna. The region is famous for many of its local culinary delights including Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Parma ham (prosciutto), Balsamic vinegar, white truffles and Porcini mushrooms.

History: Parma was founded in 183 B.C. by the consul Marcus Emilius Lepidus and 2000 Roman citizens as part of a colonization project in which the nearby towns of Piacenza, Modena and Bologna were also established. During the Imperial Age of the Roman Empire (27BC - 400AD), Parma had a forum in today's Piazza Garibaldi (photo upper left), a theater, an amphitheater, public baths and a basilica. In the Byzantine period (400AD - 1400AD), Parma became known as Chrysopolis - The Golden City. The flourishing town saw the rule of the Visconti, the Sforza, the French and the Papacy from the 14th to 16th Centuries. In 1545 Pope Paul III established a Duchy with his son Pier Luigi Farnese as its ruler. The years between 1802 and 1814 were a time of Napoleonic rule and in 1816 the city's administration was passed to Bonaparte's second wife, Maria Luigia of Austria, whose influential power propelled Parma to become one of the great cultural centers of Europe. Parma joined the newly unified Kingdom of Italy with a plebiscite on March 18, 1860.
David J. Castello