Things to do in Parma: where taste, music and art meet silent grace

Tucked between the Po River and the Apennines, Parma, in the Emilia-Romagna region, moves with soft elegance. Famous for Parmigiano Reggiano and Verdi’s operas, Parma doesn’t put its beauty on display. It lives it: in gestures, in silence, in afternoons that stretch into golden evenings. If you’re wondering about the best things to do in Parma, don’t expect a checklist. Think of it as a rhythm: a city to walk through, listen to, and taste, one experience at a time.

1. The Duomo and the Baptistery: Parma’s sacred heart in light and stone

In the heart of Parma, Piazza Duomo offers a moment of calm. The Romanesque Cathedral holds within its walls one of the Renaissance’s masterpieces: Correggio’s Assumption of the Virgin. Painted around 1526–1530, its swirling figures and radiant light evoke an emotional lift, as if the dome itself breathes.

Next door, the octagonal Baptistery, carved from pink Verona marble by Benedetto Antelami, blends Romanesque solidity with early Gothic grace. Inside, medieval frescoes and sculpted details offer a glimpse into the spiritual imagination of the 13th century.

2. Taste the flavours that made Parma famous

Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma are more than local specialties: they’re rituals passed down through generations.

Each morning, Parmigiano Reggiano is still made in nearby dairies, following traditional PDO-certified methods, while Prosciutto di Parma ages for months in hillside curing rooms, shaped by Apennine air.

In this city, you’ll also savour tortelli d’erbetta: hand‑rolled parcels of ricotta and chives, bathed in butter and Parmesan. One taste, and you’ll understand how deeply food is woven into the identity of this city.

3. Palazzo della Pilotta: centuries layered in stone, silence, and stage

Step under the monumental loggia of the Pilotta and you enter Parma’s cultural core: a 16th-century ducal complex now home to museums, libraries, and theatres.

Its centrepiece is the Teatro Farnese, built in 1618 and rebuilt after WWII. One of Europe’s few surviving wooden Renaissance theatres, its pale timber seats and painted galleries bring an authentic sense of past performances.

Nearby, the Galleria Nazionale offers masterpieces of Italian art: luminous works by Correggio, refined portraits by Parmigianino, cityscapes by Canaletto, and even a rare Leonardo da Vinci drawing.

4. Parma’s old town: where beauty walks in silence

Among the most rewarding things to do in Parma, exploring its historic centre is perhaps the most revealing.

Begin on Via Cavour, where refined storefronts reflect the city’s understated elegance. Drift to Piazza Garibaldi, where symmetry and calm define the daily rhythm. Just around the corner, San Giovanni Evangelista houses Correggio’s monumental cupola fresco and symbolic lunette, among the most significant works in Parma. Nearby, the Camera di San Paolo (Chamber of St. Paul) remains a rare, painted chamber of myth and foliage, once the private space of a Renaissance abbess.

No itinerary dictates the rhythm here. Instead, the city invites you to notice: every detail is part of Parma’s autobiography.

5. Oltretorrente: where Parma slows down

Cross the Parma River and the city shifts. In Oltretorrente, façades are worn, streets narrow, and the feel is more lived-in. Family-run trattorie, artisans, and village-like piazzas give it character.

At its centre lies Parco Ducale (Ducal Park), once the private garden of the Farnese dukes. Today it’s a public refuge where locals come to read, walk, or enjoy quiet moments under chestnut trees.

6. Markets, music, and moments of celebration

Parma reveals a warmer side during markets and festivals, when its composed rhythm opens to joy, music, and shared tables.

In Piazza della Ghiaia, market stalls brim with regional flavors and vintage curiosities: aged cheeses, hand-drawn prints, roasted chestnuts, and ciccioli (crispy pork bites once made during the winter butchering season).

These are the moments when the city pulses: a jazz quartet in a courtyard, a food fair winding between church façades, laughter echoing off cobblestones. The city’s pace lifts, and you’re invited to dance with it. The pace of the city quickens and you are invited to dance with her.

7. Celebrate Verdi at the Festival that bears his name

Each autumn, Parma and nearby Busseto resonate with the music of Giuseppe Verdi.

From late September to mid-October, the Festival Verdi honors the composer’s legacy with a rich program of operas, concerts, and cultural events staged in the very places where his life and art took shape.

In Busseto’s intimate Teatro Verdi (Verdi Theater), near the house where he was born, performances feel personal, as if his presence still waits in the wings. In Parma’s Teatro Regio, one of Italy’s most revered opera houses, the atmosphere deepens: velvet balconies, a gilded stage, and music that still stirs the soul.

8. Discover the soul of sound at the Casa della Musica

In Parma, music doesn’t only live on stage. It’s remembered, archived, and continually rediscovered.

Housed in the 15th-century Palazzo Cusani, the Casa della Musica (House of Music) is part of a wider constellation of spaces dedicated to Italy’s musical heritage. The adjacent Museo dell’Opera explores Parma’s operatic history through letters, set designs, and archival recordings. Nearby, the Casa del Suono (House of Sound) invites you into immersive soundscapes, mixing ancient instruments with modern acoustics.

Even the birthplace of Arturo Toscanini, now a house-museum, adds another layer to Parma’s musical legacy, preserved by those who know music is more than heritage: it’s identity.

Parma: where flavors, art and music endure

Parma doesn’t demand your attention; it earns it. Here, art isn’t behind velvet ropes; it’s overhead, on the plate, and in the air. Music plays in memory as much as on stage. And food is not just consumed. It’s celebrated.

Among the most significant activities to do in Parma, two are particularly suitable for those seeking a deeper experience: our Parma and Verdi Festival 2025, which revives Verdi’s legacy in the theaters where it all began.