CHIAVARI,
Italy – Parma is one of Italy’s little cities of art. It’s not a city that gets
a lot of tourist attention, and that may be a good thing, because if you are
tired of just seeing other tourists in your travels around Italy, get on a
train and come to Parma.
The
train station isn’t far from the center of town and you can walk there in less
than ten minutes. The only problem is the street you have to walk down, Strada
Giuseppe Garibaldi, is lined with food shops, and it is very, but very easy to
be totally distracted by glowing wheels of Parmesan cheese and mounds of
home-made tortellini, not to mention the prosciutto and salami. But if you are
strong and resist, you will be rewarded.
It
is true that over the years the city has been ravaged by fires and earthquakes,
but there is no trace of them now. What you will find within the walls of the
old city, are buildings dating back to the 11th and 12th
century. One of them is the Palazzo
Vescovile, an 11th century bishop's palace. The palace is in a
medieval square which it shares with the town’s Cathedral and Parma's great
octagonal baptistery, both of which were built in the 12th
century.
Parma’s
Cathedral was one of the buildings damaged by the earthquake in 1106.The Gothic
belfry was added in 1284 and both the Cathedral and the belfry have been in
pretty good shape since then. As I
pushed open the heavy door I looked up and saw an organ tuner running his
fingers over the keyboard of the old church organ. He would randomly hit keys,
stop, step back, and wait. Slowly the ancient pipes would push out the musical
notes which then floated upward toward the dome and, as they reached Correggio's
fresco of the Assumption that is painted there, they would fade away like a
whisper. I walked around and then sat for a bit, thoroughly enjoying the fact
that I had the church to myself. But then when a young couple came in and broke
my reverie, I left and walked across the square to the Baptistery.
The
pink Verona marble Baptistery is considered one of the most interesting
buildings in Italy. It was started in 1195 under the supervision of master sculptor
Benedetto Antelami, or as the architrave over the north door puts it:
"twice two years before 1200 the sculptor Benedetto doth began this work".
Antelami was also responsible for all of the Baptistery’s elaborate carvings,
both inside and out. On the inside he intricately sculpted representations of
the four seasons, the twelve signs of the zodiac, animals and fabulous beasts,
creatures from Hell, sea monsters, centaurs, mermaids and unicorns, all in all an
unprecedented menagerie in pink marble. On
the outside of the building he crowned each portal with scenes from the old and
new Testament.
The Baptistry and Cathedral Bell Tower in the Late Afternoon |
Parma
is a city that has been dominated by Spain, France, Austria and the Catholic
Church, and ultimately the Dukes of Farnese. They were a family of successful
mercenaries and through their ties to the church and a series of well-planned
marriages they managed to achieve considerable wealth and power. But it was
Julia Farnese, the Papal Venus as she came to be known, who was responsible for
bringing Parma and its territory under the control of the Farnese family.
When
Giulia Farnese was born in 1474, she was promised in marriage to Orsino Orsini,
the son of the Count of Pitigliano. They married when she turned 15 and he was
18. He was dark and handsome, she was beautiful and fair. Giulia's father was
particularly happy with the union as Orsini was related to some of the most
powerful families in Italy, including Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, father of the
infamous Lucrezia.
At
their wedding the Cardinal, who was almost 60 years old at the time, fell
head-over-heels in love with Giulia, and it wasn't long before she became his
mistress. The powerful Cardinal and Giulia had a long relationship, and when he
became Pope, taking the name Alexander VI, he favored his mistress by making
her brother Alessandro, a Cardinal. Alessandro went on to become Pope Paul III,
and the Farnese family legacy was insured. It was not many years later that Parma
and its territories were given to Pope Paul III's son, Pier Luigi Farnese, in
payment for services rendered as a knight for the Catholic Church. And thus the
Duchy of Farnese was created.
But
the Parmigiani don’t focus on their Farnese heritage too much, they have other
things to think about. For example, one of Italy’s leading composers of opera,
Giuseppe Verdi, was born in nearby Roncole, and the resourceful Parmigiani have
managed to combine their two main loves – opera and food – in one happy
place. At the Teatro Regio, Parma's
historic opera house, the back of one of the opera house boxes is fitted like a
restaurant, its walls decorated with photographs and posters of scenes from
past operas and their stars.
During
the intermission of an operatic performance, the Club of 27, a private group of
opera lovers whose membership is limited to 27 as that was the number of operas
Guiseppe Verdi wrote, gather in that restaurant. They devour many gastronomical
delights Parma and Emilia Romagna is known for, and drink down glasses of
sparkling Lambrusco wine while they discuss and argue the finer points of the
opera and the cast performing it. This tradition did not originated in Parma
but the Teatro Regio Parma is the only opera house in the world where it is
still practiced.
So
you see it really does all go back to what I said before, the biggest problem
with Parma is it’s much too easy to be distracted by the food. Not only is it home to Parmesan cheese and
Parma ham, it is also home to Parmalat, Barilla pasta, a large sugar industry,
a company that sells Borgotaro porcini mushrooms, Italy's third largest
panettone factory, three food museums
and the European Union’s Food Safety Authority. Is it a surprise the saying
"you live to eat well, you don't eat to live" originated here? I
didn't think so.
One of the Many Food Shops in Parma |
So if you ever get the urge to wander off the beaten
path and see another side of Italy, Parma might be a good place to start for
this is only part of the story, but I’ll leave that for you to explore.
I would like to say thanks for sharing nice blog. Really Wonderful pictures.. beauty in its most potent form. Italy tourist attraction is filled with unbeatable accommodations. parma is the most beautiful place in Italy. If any one want to go Italy then choose 123transfers.com which is provides transfers service. it is also give best Travel Guide to visit in Italy.
ReplyDelete