Parma - Italian Capital Culture for 2020
The northern Italian city of Parma is the Italian Capital of Culture in 2020 and 2021
A jury "unanimously" picked Parma over nine other Italian cities, and described Parma as "a virtuous and extremely high-quality example of local culturally based planning". It takes over the title from Italy's 2018 Capital of Culture, Palermo, and the 2019 European Capital of Culture, Matera. Within Parma, one can find numerous museums, art collections, historical artefacts, as well as entire displays dedicated to food, sound recording and the local football team. Parma also boasts one of the oldest universities in the world.
There's art everywhere, not only in the Galleria Nazionale, which preserves work of the local artists Parmigianino and Correggio alongside those of Da Vinci and Canaletto but in its churches and numerous private galleries. Parma province gave the world two of the most famous musicians, composer Giuseppe Verdi and conductor Arturo Toscanini. The House of Music museum is a must-visit for anyone interested in the history of Italian opera.
Parma is food heaven, prosciutto and Parmigiano cheese have made the city famous around the world. Emilia-Romagna, where Parma is located, produces more origin-protected food and drink than any other region in Italy. Also noteworthy is the fact that it houses the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), owing to the outstanding presence of food makers, food processing machinery manufacturers, universities and research centres dedicated to food technologies. The city is also home to the top school of Italian cooking, Alma, and the only place in the country to earn the title of UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy in 2015.
Credits: The Mayor