Parma, Italy - Plenty of Bang for the Buck!

Parma was one of our favorites.  Far fewer tourists and a great food scene makes this a great town to visit.  We happened to be in the city in the middle of November and it was alive with pre-christmas activity of displaying decorations, and evening outdoor craft markets. We'd recommend at least 3 nights in the city.  It has interesting churches, world class art galleries, and a food scene that may be the best we encountered in Italy.  And no tourist should visit Parma without taking one of the wonderful guided day tours of the cheese, ham, and vinegar producers.

Parma is easily accessible by train from all points in Northern Italy and lies half way along the route running between Milan and Bologna.  You can reach the city in an hour and 10 minutes from the Milano Centrale station.

We stayed at the Hotel Button, which is right in the historic center of the city and offers rooms from $56.00 per night with breakfast included.  It's a 9 minute taxi ride from the train station, or if you pack light and enjoy a walk as we do, then it's a 20 minute walk.  It's a 3 star hotel and the rooms are nothing fancy, but the breakfast buffet is adequate and the location and price can't be beat.

Hotel Button  - in the heart of the city

After the arriving at the hotel, you may be ready for a light and inexpensive lunch or snack.  We recommend you give Toast Amore a try.  It's on a popular street for strolling at 31 Strada Cavour. It's a unique concept with just sandwiches made on toasted bread.  The prices are 4 to 5 euros, but the size of these treasures justifies the price.  They are 18" x 18". You won't be hungry until dinner after working through one of these.

Stopped in here for a lite bite and had a great conversation with the owner.

We were expecting a small toast sandwich and he brought out THESE monsters.  So much for a light lunch...

After lunch, take a stroll over to the Piazza Duomo.  Here you can find a very nice cathedral dating back to 900AD, as well as the accompanying Baptistry and the Diocese Museum.  A single ticket purchased at the museum gets you entrance to the museum and the baptistry - the Duomo is free.  All three are worth the time to visit and the baptistry in particular, although it doesn't have the bronze doors as it's more famous Florentine cousin, it's interior is filled with stunning frescoes. 

Pictures of the inside of the Baptistry can be found at our Baptistry of Parma Page

and the Duomo can be found here Duomo of Parma

We recommend taking a relaxing walk through the streets in the neighborhood of the Duomo for a slice of tourist heaven. 

Quiet Streets around the Cathedral - What a nice change of pace!

Parma is just loaded with interesting churches.  The range of art and architecture is incredible.  Some that we can recommend (with links to more pictures) are:

San Giovanni, a short walk from the Duomo. (Apologies for the poor picture quality, it was a very dark day and we got there late)

Santa Croce with it's fabulous frescoed Cupola, and the intimate Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament (more great frescoes)

Santa Maria Quartiere, another fine cupola and some of the best wall frescoes anywhere 

San Vitale, a surprisingly wonderful little church 

Santa Maria Steccata

For art lovers, there is the great National Gallery of Parma located in the Pallazzo della Pilota and the Pinocateca Stuard located at 2 Borgo del Parmigianino.  We can't recommend the Pinocateca strongly enough.  You will definitely get your art fix in here.  You can see some of our rather amateur attempts at taking pictures of just a small sample of the art in there here: 

Pinocateca Stuard.

As mentioned above, you just really need to take one of the food production tours offered in Parma.  Parma is one of Italy's epicenters for foodies and we found the food much better than Bologna which seemed to run to the overly salted.  We took the great whole day Tastybus tour offered by Maestro Travel Experience.  Our guide, Elisa was exceptionally well educated in Parmesan Cheese, Parma Ham, and Balsamic vinegar.  On the tour she gets right in there, showing you how to test cheese wheels, season the ham, and introduces you to the proprietor of Acetaia Picci, a small Balsamic vinegar producer whose product is amazing.  We were blown away by the time and care required to make the most exclusive and expensive vinegars you will ever come across.  There is even tasting at all three stops and lunch is included!

And lastly, you have to sample the many gourmet Italian restaurants in the old center of the city.  Keep in mind this is a city famous for it's cuisine, and you will absolutely need reservations for many of the better establishments.  We were pleasantly surprised that Google now offers a reservation service for most of them right in the Google Maps app.  Just locate the desired restaurant in Gmaps, scroll down to the reservations section and off you go.  We found it invaluable both as a reservation service and as a tool to tell us when the most busy times at particular place are.  One of the specialties of Parma Cuisine is lard fried dough pockets.  They are a sinful indulgence but you'll walk it off on a stroll through the city- right?

Some of our favorites were:

Gallo de Oro at 3 Borgo della Salina (20 meters from Hotel Button)

La Cucina Del Maestro at 19 Str. Luigi Carlo Farini

Trattoria Del Tribunale Parma at 5 Vicolo Politi

The Gallo d'Oro Restaurant is just next door to Hotel button and did not disappoint.

We had gelato every night at the Grom around the corner from the Hotel Button.

 

We were fortunate to arrive in Parma when the Christmas lights were just going up.  One of the little streets hung lights across the top in the shape of lamp shades.  You can see a quick video of it here.

We also stumbled upon a little produce shop that was a work of art itself.  The colors and selection were out-of-this-world.  You can see video of that here.