Italia 2017 - Parma

On our third day we decided to take a day trip to the nearby town of Parma, a city renowned gastronomically as I mentioned in the foodie post but also a nice small city that is easy to get around on foot from the train station. The big attraction here is the Duomo/Cathedral. The Duchy of Parma did not come into being until after heyday of the Italian Medieval and Renaissance period. But that didn't keep the Dukes from amassing a lot of wealth and the trappings that went with it.

A Deluge of Duomo Photos

As followers of our blog know, there is hardly a church, cathedral, basilica, mosque, temple, etc. that I won't go to, enjoy, and appreciate. But there are a few that take you to another level. I think I would put the Duomo of Parma in that category. This was started a bit earlier than the great cathedrals of the high Middle Ages in France, England and Germany. It looks to me a bit more Romanesque but I couldn't find anything on line that said anything about it.

The Exterior

But it was the interior that really blew me away.

It was wall to wall frescos.

I have never seen this before and it was pretty spectacular

Right next to the Duomo is a building called the Baptistry.

To be honest, I don't think I'd ever run into a completely separate building just for baptisms in all my travels before.

But it was the interior again that was really spectacular. 

The material we read said that the style of this was based on Byzantine style. When you see my post on Ravenna you will understand.

And elsewhere in Parma

An opera house because this is the home to Verdi

The Theatre Faranese

One of the major Duke palaces the Palazzo della Pilotta was almost completely destroyed during WWII by Allied bombing. The theater which dates from the 17th century along with much the rest was rebuilt in the 1960;s (This theme we will run into again and again. Very little we see is original)

There was a substantial museum there. A lot of the painting was Medieval which frankly is not my cup of tea. And there was an archeological museum with some stuff that looked very interesting related to how metal work and other crafts were done. But it was all in Italian so was kind of frustrating. 

But at least there was some ancient signage for our...

SIGNS OF THE WORLD

Series

My Latin is rusty but I do believe this is a street sign that state you cannot conduct a crucifixion unless you have a permit and it is Tuesday or Friday.