There is no way better to spend holidays than travelling with family and friends. Moreover, after two, almost three, long years of pandemic, everyone is looking forward to starting travelling again without many restrictions. Those Easter Holidays were the perfect chance to pack a suitcase, get into the car and discover new places, even in your own country.
Parma is a small city in Emilia-Romagna, a region under the river Po in Italy. It is a very elegant, historical and beautiful city; it has architecture, historical buildings, huge parks and delicious typical dishes to eat.
My family and I decided to take just two days of relax to wander and visit the countryside and Parma. It didn't take us too much to go from Milan to Emilia-Romagna, just a couple of hours (always bare in mind the traffic).
🚗 BOBBIO DI PIACENZA
Firstly, we stopped at Bobbio Piacenza, which is a small town in the countryside, nominated the best village in 2019. Despite its smallness, it must be visited, because it has, for example, a breathtaking church, with frescoes, gold archways and dark-blue ceilings with stars, which recreate the night sky. There is, also, a long and old bridge, similar to the Harry Potter bridge which connects Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, called Ponte Vecchio or Ponte Gobbo, and little wonderful perspectives.
It takes you just an hour to visit and you won't regret it at all!
🍽 LUNCH: RUSTIC RESTAURANT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE LA FAVORITA
Having lunch in a rustic restaurants surrounded by nature and animals is a MUST.
My family and I are addicted to the restaurant LA FAVORITA and every time we get the chance to go there, we never hesitate.
It is run by a family and they offer you so many delicious dishes, that you find hard to decide what to take. For the last three times I went there, I ordered always the same meals:
- Antipasto: gnocco fritto with cold cuts and gorgonzola
their tasty savoury cake with vegetables
- Pasta: tortelli with ricotta and spinach
- Second dish: roast-beef with potatoes and vegetables
- Dessert: semifreddo with hot chocolate and assorted pastries
🚗 LABYRINTH and ART EXPOSITION
In the afternoon, we came to the biggest labyrinth of the world: Labyrinth della Masone.
It expands for 5.000 squared metres and it is formed by different species of bamboo.
It has just one entrance and one exit and it is quite hard to find it, therefore before you get into it, you are given a bracelet with a number to call in case of emergency.
We managed to get out of there brilliantly, by looking at a map and keeping in mind the possible route to find the exit.
After exiting, we got to see the temporary art exhibition and the art collection of the labyrinth owner, Franco Maria Ricci, who collaborated with two architects.
The artworks come from the centuries, which go from the five-century to the nine-century and they amount to 500 artworks.
The temporary art exposition was about Futuristic Aereopainting, many artists painted the prospective of the world seen from the pilot seat in a plan.
- Futuristic Aereopainting -
🚗 PARMA
In the evening we arrived in Parma, unpacked our suitcases and laid in bed till the day after.
The next day we had breakfast in the hotel and then we visited the city.
Firstly, we had a walk through the ducal gardens and we got to see the old Ducal Palace, which is now a Carabinieri barracks.
Then we paid the tickets to visit the old theater Farnese and its museum, the art gallery with the library and the temporary art exhibition, at palace Pilotta.
The theater Farnese looks like the Shakespeare Globe, it is so well structured and organized. By old architectural draws and a documentary we got to know how it was originally structured and how it was supposed to be built.
The art gallery is very similar to the National Gallery in London, there are exposed so many portraits of royal families, christian paintings and even a Leonardo da Vinci's painting and a Botticelli's one.
Then we had an ice-cream and before going home we entered the Duomo, which is one of most beautiful church I have ever seen. It has frescoes painted all over the walls and ceilings.
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