Parma

Why go

Teatro Regio — the hardest audience in Italy, and they will tell you so themselves. Verdi and Toscanini country — both born within thirty kilometres, and the region knows it. Prosciutto and Parmigiano — two protected products made in factories you can visit before breakfast. Correggio's dome — a sixteenth-century fresco that changed what a ceiling could do.

The character

Parma was the capital of a duchy that ran from 1545 to 1859, most memorably under Marie Louise, Napoleon's widow, who is still called Maria Luigia here and is credited with the violets, the theatre and much of the city's manner. The Teatro Regio, which she commissioned in 1829, is the reason for Parma's reputation in opera: its loggione — the cheap upper gallery — is famous for booing tenors who disappoint, and singers describe it as the most frightening house in Italy. Verdi was born at Roncole twenty-five kilometres away, Toscanini in the city itself, and the local relationship to both is proprietorial.

The other half of Parma is food, and it is not decoration. Parmigiano Reggiano and prosciutto di Parma are protected designations with rules that read like law, made in hundreds of small producers in the hills and plain around the city, and the local cuisine — anolini in brodo, culatello, torta fritta — is regarded even within Italy as exceptional. The city itself is prosperous, pink-stoned and quiet, with a university from 1117 and a habit of doing things properly.

Places of character

Teatro Regio — tour it or, better, buy a cheap seat in the loggione and watch the audience as much as the stage. Duomo and Correggio's dome — the Assumption of 1526, a spiralling vortex of bodies that stunned contemporaries. Baptistery — Antelami's octagon in pink Verona marble, twelfth century, and a masterpiece of the Romanesque. Camera di San Paolo — another Correggio, a private room frescoed with putti in a nun's apartment. A Parmigiano dairy at dawn — production starts at six; most producers take visitors and it is worth the alarm. Casa Barezzi, Busseto — where Verdi lived as a young man, half an hour away in the flat country.

The way to do it

Book a dairy visit for the early morning — the cheese is made before eight and the tour is a working one. Take a cheap ticket at the Regio rather than a good one; the gallery is the experience. Eat lunch as the main meal and take the Verdi excursion on a clear day, because the flat country is part of the story.

One perfect day

Up at half past five for a Parmigiano dairy — curd, moulds, the brine room and a tasting of thirty-six-month cheese at seven in the morning. Back for coffee. The Duomo when it opens, for Correggio's dome with the light coming in from the side. Baptistery next. Long lunch: anolini in brodo and culatello, with a lambrusco that is dry and nothing like the export version. Afternoon at the Camera di San Paolo and a walk in the Parco Ducale. Early evening at the Regio, in the gallery. Dinner after, late, discussing the tenor.

Grand hotels

Grand Hotel de la Ville — the city's traditional address, near the centre and used by the opera world. Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati — apartments in a family palazzo facing the baptistery, for the view alone.

When to go

Best expression: October, for the Verdi Festival and the truffle and cheese season together. Consider: April and May, when the plain is green and the city is comfortable. Avoid if possible: August, when Parma empties and many restaurants close, and January fog.

The frame

Ideal stay 2 nights · Minimum 1 night · Best arrival high-speed train from Milan or Bologna · Airport BLQ, 100 km · Walkability excellent and flat · Best without a car yes in the city; a car helps for the dairies