Parma – Camera del Correggio

After the Santa Maria della Steccata, the Battistero, and the Cattedrale, there's another famous dome to visit in Parma (pop 199,598 in 2026), the "Camera del Correggio". But when we arrive, there is a large tour group waiting to enter. The docent at the biglietteria tells us that only twenty-five are allowed in at once, and this group is too big. We decide to come back in an hour or two.

Instead, we enjoy a walk through the old town to Parco della Cittadella, which our host recommended. We cross the Piazza Duomo, go around the Battistero, and join the Borgo Venti Marzo. The curbs are dotted with bright cobbles identifying the businesses along the route, for example, the angel of the Società Cattolica di Assicurazione.

The Borgo Giacomo Tommasini is on the other side of the Strada della Repubblica and is filled with hanging mirrors, the "Strada degli Specchi". We make a left, then right again on then the Strada XXII Luglio where the marked continue with the Farmacia XXII Luglio (caduceus) and so on – some fascinating and local expressions.

All the while, the varied palette and textures of Parma are ever present. We pass the Chiesa di San Quintino (16th century) with its simplified classical geometries elegantly rendered in brick.

The Strada takes us into a beautiful neighborhood, with some impressive houses, and leads us to the Via Passo Buole which goes directly onto the Ingresso Cittadella. The Parco della Cittadella (Cittadella, late 16th century; Parco, 21st century) inhabits an old five-sided star fortress.

Oddly, the "Ingresso Monumentale" (Giambattista Carra, 1596) has the Portguese coat of arms (brasão de armas). A quick wiki-lookup tells us that Philip II, King of Spain (royal crest) and for a time King of Portugal (royal crest), also controlled England and Flanders during the so-called Italian Wars. The Cittadella is built the Duchi di Parma (ducal crest) in 1589. The Duke, Alessandro Farnese, is also appointed Governor of Flanders (that crest) in 1578 by Philip II. So, the crest is a mashup of pices of those crests (?). Anyway, it's funny to see the "Cinco Quinas" at the center.

In any case, the Parco is packed full of families enjoying their Sunday. It is active and joyful, and we are happy to absorb the distinctive and positive local energy.

On our way back to the Camera, we find the Chiesa di Sant'Uldarico (15th-18th centuries) then follow the Strada Luigi Carlo Farini, another fantastic pedestrian shopping street, full of restaurants and shops.

A Sunday road race passes us, the runners at top speed.

We make our way to the Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi and get a look at the Palazzo del Comune (17th century) and the Palazzo del Governatore (17th century) in the daylight, with all the colors washing the street scenes.

We arrive at the Monastero di San Paolo (15th-16th centuries), the tour is gone. In fact, as it's lunchtime, there doesn't appear to be any other guests at all. We have the place to ourselves.

We enter a small vestibule with a coffered barrel vault and columns with goat-heads (details below). Through a beautifully trimmed wooden door surround frames a view of the feet of Cristo and le dodici Apostli in the "Cenacolo" (1516) by Alessandro Araldi – we remember Araldi from the altare in the Cappella Centoni (c1465) – "Madonna col Bambino, Santi Antonio Abate e Paolo" and "Santi Antonio Abate e Catarina d'Alessandria" in the altar front (also 1516) that we saw in the Cattedrale.

This is clearly a copy and study of the fresco (1495-98) by Leonardo da Vinci in the Chiesa de Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan (that we saw in 2018). Araldi's painting includes only the table and the diners, and thus is missing the architectural and perspectival presence, but he has captured the light and emotion of the moment and preserved the faded color and the missing feet of the original – at the time it was less than twenty years old.

The "Antico Refettorio", later the "Cappella delle Monache", is through the door and a short corridor (remembering da Vinci's "Il Cenacolo" was in the Refettorio, too). Here the exhibition illuminates several broken affreschi (15th century) by Jacopo Loschi and include: "Episodi della Leggenda dei Santi Benedetto e Scolastica", the "Annunciazione" (large), and the "Madonna Della Misericordia".

On the back wall is an oval-shaped stucco medallion with traces of a painted altarpiece under a series of lovely volte a ombrello with Badessa Giovanna Piacenza's coat of arms (three crescent moons). A partial affresco (19th century) with neo-Gothic decorations, statues and a fake marble plinth is further back near a set of carved wooden choir stalls and a magnificent door.

Doubling back through a different doorway, we enter the "Camera dell'Araldi" (Alessandro Araldi, 1514) with its own stunning frescoed ceiling. Ominously inside the faux oculo in the seven tiny angels blow their trumpets. A dark field filled with angels and grottesche covers the background between the side and corner volte.

Four small tondi show scenes from the Old Testament (including Adam and Eve, The Binding of Isaac, Moses and the Ten Commandments). Eight framed rectangles show scenes from the New Testament (including Wedding at Cana, Miraculous Catch of Fish, Slaughter of the Innocents, Salome and the Head of St John).

The portraits in the centered cross volte represent Saint Paul, Saint Jerome, and God the Father, while over the fireplace. Three lunette are painted on each side on the walls with depictions that refer to the values of the Benedictines, vigorously promoted by the Badessa in the time of the Reformation: Humilitas and Castitas (fanciulla e l'unicorno), Charitas (Cimone e Pero), the Pietas (Cleobi e Bitone), Oboedientia (feet walking on the water). The Bible quote (Psalms 66:12) on the fireplace reads:

"TRANSIVIMUS PER IGNEM ET AQUAM, ET EDUXISTI NOS IN REFRIGERIUM"

["We passed through fire and water, and you led us to refreshment"]

The Camera di San Paolo (della Badessa Giovanna, Antonio Allegri da Correggio, 1519) is the next room. Though it i the same size on the plan diagram, it feels much bigger, and that is probably from the wider faux vault. Though Correggio is famous for the affresco in the cupola of the Cattedrale, this looks like the cupola of the Batiste, sixteen wedges with an outer edge of lunette and a central ring, where the Badessa's coat of arms is repeated.

However, in this case, the trompe-l'œil lunette are filled with small statues painted in grisaille. And in contrast to Araldi's, there are sixteen oculi above each lunetta. with two or three putti in each. Festoons of leaves and fruit hang above oculi, suspended on the yarns that weave to form the center rosetta – the painted detail in the weave is astonishing.

Though allegorical rather than theological, the figures in the lunette evoke virtues: (starting north, to the right of the fireplace) The Three Graces are beauty, charm and grace (detail); Minerva holds a blade-less staff as example of virtue; on the next (east) wall Africa holds a scorpion and alludes to prudence; Juno is suspended and punished (detail); on the next (south) wall The Temple of Jupiter (detail), The Three Fates hold, measure, and cut the threads of life; on the next (west) wall a Satyr sews chaos; and Purity holds a dove.

The lunette rest on a cornice held by rams' heads joined by a ribbon of cloth acting as a hammock for a variety of bowls, plates, and pitchers.

In the affresco just above the fireplace, the goddess Diana, goddess of the hunt and representing purity, drives her chariot. Her presence activates the putti in the oculi, who all hold items involved in the hunt: dogs (detail), horns, a bow, a quiver of arrows, even the head of a deer (detail).

The fireplace adds the motto:

"IGNEM GLADIO NE FODIAS"

["Do not stir the fire with the sword"]

Also from the Camera's windows, there are oblique angles into the small courtyard, which seems to be part of the Pinacoteca Stuard (Monastero Benedettino di San Paolo, 19th century). The "Gruppo del Sileno" (Jean-Baptiste Boudard, 1765) is right in the window, but the view is from the side. Going back to the eastern window, we can get a more frontal look, along with looks at other pieces – as if the statuary in the lunette inhabit an alternate universe.

On the way out, we squeeze through a closet-sized passage with another volta ad ombrello. The affresci in the volta are faded, but the colors in the lunette are still vivid, though they form a group of barren landscapes.

Before departing, we admire the fanciful goat-head capitals, a call back to the painted versions in the Camera.

This Sunday affords a ground-level look at Parma – the families in the park, the local activities, the quiet walks, the busy cafes.

After lunch, as the skies darken, we continue our stroll on the banks of the Torrente Parma. The stream is sandy and shallow, but full of green. We pass the Monumento alla Vittoria; the city has grown around the column, which seems isolated and inaccessible. But its height lifts it over the street art of the "Terzo Passagio" – a bluebird caught in the plastic rings of a discarded six-pack.

We make it to the Ponte Giuseppe Verdi (1902-03) before the rain starts and take cover in the arched vaults of the Palazzo della Pilotta (16th-17th centuries). The people of Parma crowd around us. When the downpour eases, we make a break for the hotel.