University Palace
Strada Dell'Universita', 12 - 43121 - Parma (PR)
Phone: +39 05219021
The construction of this building starts in 1654 thanks to the deed of gift of the Jesuit father Giovanni Federico Cusani. The terra cotta construction is unfinished. In the facade, three stone frames separate the ground floor and the first floor, both marked by two lines of framed windows. Under a projecting cornice there are rectangular windows.
From a lodge you get to a vast hall with cross vaults supported by Tuscanic columns with stone bases, then follows a vast inner courtyard. A solemn grand staircase leads to the first floor, where in the corridors several busts of famous teachers are exposed. Various pictures adorn the Aula Magna and the Aula dei Filosofi: both keep the original stalls and desk.
The Parma University was born in the eleventh century by the evolution of the Parmesan episcopal school. With the advent of the Farnese Dinasty, the University became more stable and prestigious. The Jesuits taught humanities in the San Rocco Palace, the actual University palace. In 1601 Ranuccio I Farnese renewed the University and granted some privileges. Thanks to Minister Du Tillot, the faculty of Law was reformed and the botanic garden created, while the science faculties were provided with an anatomy theatre and a physics and chemistry laboratories.
Today, the Parma University includes almost every kind of faculties and postgraduate schools of specialization and Phd.
At the first floor of the Palace is located the Natural History Museum Bottego.
