During your stay in the exclusive Bed & Breakfast Al Battistero d’Oro, situated in Parma, in Emilia Romagna, you can travel among castles and Verdi’s music, in Parma and surroundings.
PARMA
The town of Parma has been nominated a Creative Town for gastronomy by UNESCO in 2015 and offers numerous points of interest. Overlooking Piazza Duomo, there are the Duomo and the Baptistry. The first one dates back to 1106 and is considered one of the highest expressions of Italian Romanesque style, houses beautiful frescoes by Correggio and the bas-relief of Antelami depicting the Deposition from the Cross. The adjacent Baptistery, built by Antelami, was built in red marble from Verona and also contains magnificent frescoes painted between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Piazza Duomo Parma
The Regio Theatre of Parma, or the Opera Theatre, is one of the most important theaters in Italy and hosts concerts and performances of international interest. Was built in 1821 and has a neoclassical façade. The interior has four tiers of stages and on the ceiling we can admire the frescoes by Borghesi.
Near the Teatro Regio there’s the Palazzo della Pilotta. Built in 1580 for the Farnese family, when Parma was the capital of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, the palace was the seat of the State and the Court. Its large spaces are now home to the National Gallery of Parma, the Farnese Theatre, the Palatine Library and the Archaeological Museum.
The Church of Santa Maria della Steccata is a shrine built in the Sixteenth Century. The interior preserves beautiful frescoes and works of art, such as La Pietà by Thomas Bandini.
BUSSETO
Busseto is a small village in Parma district, the birthplace of Giuseppe Verdi. Here we can visit the house of Giuseppe Verdi, which now is a museum renovated in 2014, with a media path that takes us to the time when the Master lived his early childhood. Villa Pallavicino, also called Boffalora and palace of the Marquis, is located just outside the town of Busseto. It’s an impressive building, located in the middle of an artificial island surrounded by water and connected by three bridges. In its beautiful rooms it houses the National Museum of Giuseppe Verdi opened in 2009, with music, sets, costumes and backgrounds of his works.
Rocca Pallavicino Busseto
The beautiful Rocca Pallavicino is now the Town Hall, built in the sixteenth century, as evidenced by the central tower and renovated in the nineteenth century, with the addition of towers at the tops and the new facade.
FONTANELLATO
The village of Fontanellato, a few kilometers from Parma, houses the beautiful Rocca Sanvitale, with many rooms full of frescoes and the roof garden. Nearby you can admire many fortresses and castles including:
The Colorno Palace or Palazzo Ducale was built in the mid-fourteenth century. Its 400 rooms are almost all painted with frescoes and the Great Hall is decorated with putty. Outside of the palace we can walk through the beautiful gardens that are over 4 kilometers large with flower beds and fountains.
The Fortress of the Bardi, built on a hill in the twelfth century, made entirely of stone, with the irregular walls perimeter because is built on a rocky outcrop. One legend says that the ghost of a knight still roams among its halls.
Charming home near by
