A vital town rich in history, art and culture, Parma has been shaped along the centuries by great painters and architects the likes of Antelami and Correggio. Antelami’s pink marble Baptistery and Correggio’s illusionistic frescoes, decorating the Cathedral, the Chamber of St Paul and St John the Evangelist, are actually the trademarks of the town together with Parmigianino’s masterpieces in the Church of St Mary of Steccata. Works by Parmigianino and Correggio are also hosted in the National Gallery, located in the Pilotta palace and displaying paintings by Canova, Tiepolo and Leonardo da Vinci. Quite appropriate for a town whose heart beats for opera and drama, offering all year long a rich calendar of events and entertainments in venues such as the brand new House of Music, the Birthplace and museum of Arturo Toscanini, the House of Sound or the Regio Theatre, opened in 1829 by Marie Louise of Austria.
