Parma

Last weekend I Tatti took their Spring trip to Parma, and I got to tag along. Early morning Friday the 30-or-so of us loaded onto a hired bus and spent the entire day hopping amongst three of the two-dozen castles that dot the province of Parma. By the early evening we checked into our hotels in Parma, then spent half of Saturday visiting some sites of art around the city. Seth and I have never been a part of a large tour group like this before (outside of trips in high school), and I must admit that while it does make one a much more passive traveler, it is also very comfortable and relaxing to be whisked around from place to place. The most draining aspect of the trip was the sun and the heat--Parma hit a record high of 31 C (about 88 F) while we were there!

The first stop was the fortress of Rocca Sanvitale, in the center of the town of Fontanellato. Here we saw the Sala di Diana e Acteon, a room frescoed by Parmagianino (Tim, one of the fellows, led the tour).

Sanvitale in the town of Fontanellato

I love the trash bins in front of the tiny drawbridge
We escaped the group (and the sun!) for a picnic lunch in a park just outside the old city walls
The next castle was Rocca dei Rosso (San Secondo), known for its well-preserved grotesques (spindly imaginary creatures) and scenes from fables frescoed on the walls and ceilings
Here, our tour guide is explaining why Pop Art is mixed in with the grotesques. I didn't really understand.
The last castle, Torrechiara, was parked on a big hill and had very wonderful views of the countryside.
Tim led a discussion on the mysterious Camera d'Oro

After finally checking into Parma, everyone went out for drinks and dinner. They made reservations for 9pm, which was a bit late for Seth and me (we had to wake up at 4am and would have to wake up early again the next morning), so we had a quicker dinner somewhere else.

Trattoria Corrieri
This area is indeed famous for its Parmigiano-Reggiano (aka Parmesan cheese) and Proscuitto. We are trying cheese and proscuitto-stuffed tortelli (regional pasta similar to ravioli) and tagliatelle with rocket and proscuitto cotto (basically ham).

Even though my plate was only eight little tortelli and Seth only had a small bowl of tagliatelle, it was so rich we had to to cancel our secondo!

The next morning: a pre-dawn run along the river and then to the Parco Ducale. We had to burn off all that cheese and butter-soaked pasta from dinner the night before!
In the morning we met the I Tattians for a tour of several sites around Parma, led by another fellow. First stop: the duomo.
One of the most impressive aspects was the choir stalls, carved by the Canozi workshop.
They had intricate wood-in-wood intarsia panels that depict geometric shapes, objects, and people, using an early form of perspective (see how it looks like the guitar is sitting on a window sill?). Some panels looked more like a Picasso painting, but they were still very impressive!
The mish-mosh Baptistry next door

Our last stop as a group was to see the Camera di S. Paolo, a small room frescoed by Correggio, then a bunch of us hopped over to the National Gallery of Parma before it closed. From here Seth and I broke off for a quick lunch.

A proscuitto sandwich! If an Italian saw me pulling off the large clumps of fat the meat is known for, I would have been kicked out of the country.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the very, very hot city and checking out a couple of the other churches before heading to the train station. All in all it was a wonderful, very culture-heavy trip, which is what Italy (and I Tatti) do best!