Parma Travel Forum

Hi VT! Long time since I've been here. Since we resolved the Napoli question, I once again need your wisdom!

I'm supposed to take up a post in Parma in a couple of weeks, but am really finding it hard to get a sense of what Parma is like. I've looked it up and read lots about the food and castles, but could you'se maybe suggest some adjectives to describe it? There, easy, all I need are one word answers!

If anyone's been recently, or lives there, could you try to describe it to me.....sorry, I know this is the kind of abstract posting you'd be tempted to ignore, but spare a moment...please
Thanks

Just found Manara's Parma page, very helpful.

Parma is a mid-sized town - not so big as Milan where you can get lost for the cars (and have to have public transport), and not a small hilltown, either. It's a university town, so lots of young people. It's a town of art - when we were there, the local museum showed a special exhibit of works by "Il Parmigianino", a local artist of great repute (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmigianino ).

It's a town where you get served chipped Parmesan cheese at every meal (really, the hotel restaurant did that, serving it on a separate plate - I know they're proud of the stuff, but this seemed a bit much ;-) ). It's a town where the local bread is surprisingly bad (rather flaky in a bad way, and tasteless) - well, maybe it was that same hotel, because we ate at pizzerias otherwise.

It's a town where the local Parmensan dialect sounds like French spoken by a German - that's how it sounds to me when I speak with an old college friend whose family is from Parma (and proud of it). It's a town that has its own character, yet it is easy to go other places, such as Milan, Cremona, Piacenza, Bologna, etc. with short train rides.

We have very fond memories of Parma, such as walking down the quiet streets at night, or finding the local pizzaria, where a young woman who was likely a university student sat the whole time smiling at us (me, my wife, and mother-in-law) either because she thought our English or my Roman-accented Italian sounded funny, or maybe just because there aren't many tourists in Parma in February).

Bill

Hey thanks for that Bill. Really helps me get a 'sense' of what it's like. So safe enough do you reckon, say to go for walks alone at night looking obviously not Italian? By night, I mean evening.

You're quite the sage!

Sandra

"So safe enough do you reckon, say to go for walks alone at night looking obviously not Italian? By night, I mean evening."

Good heavens, I wouldn't think twice about it...well, I am a good-sized Italian-speaking guy guy, so you might have a different perspective, but, really, I was out with my wife and her mother (70+) and didn't begin to have a problem. Parma is not as large as those cities that have a lot of outiders bringing in drugs and whatnot (I am sure that any drugs on the streets offered to you will be by students instead ;-) ).

"You're quite the sage!"

I have always thought of myself as basil, considering the volume of it that I eat in pesto and insalata caprese, but I am willing to entertain alternatives ;-)

Bill

apologies apologies, basil it is then! and your utter astonishment at my statement regarding safety is reassuring. glad it seemed preposterous!