Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Splurge on a Memorable Feast
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€€€€
One of Parma's true temples of gastronomy,
La
(Strada Garibaldi, 39A, at Via Bodoni;
%
0521-233686;
reservations required; closed Mon-Tues and July)
manages to be unpreten-
tious while at the same time making you feel as though you're experienc-
ing the meal of a lifetime. This is because the wife-and-husband team,
Paola Cavassini and Maurizio Rossi, preside over the plain dining room
with grace and ease. While you can enjoy many traditional Parmigiana
favorites—their
stracotto
(braised beef) is the city's best—the menu also
offers dozens of exciting dishes that rely on Parma's famous hams and
cheeses as well as fresh vegetables. Parmigiano-dusted tortelli stuffed
with fresh herbs is a perfect starter. My favorite main course is veal kid-
neys with truffle shavings, though a very close second is the veal scalop-
pini with lemon and a light sauce of white wine and herbs. Or you can
splurge on a steak (beef this time)
filetto
for
€
24—the only thing on the
menu that costs more than
€
16 (most
primi
go for
€
12). The dessert chef
prepares many kinds of fruit tarts, including one made with green toma-
toes (
€
6), and the chocolate cake with zabaglione cream (
€
6) will con-
vince you that you have indeed enjoyed the meal of a lifetime.
55
Greppia
replaced at dinner by neighborhood families out for a night of fun and good food.
The largely carnivorous menu begins with a tray of prosciutto and other cured
meats (
€
7.50), followed by grilled veal (
€
10) or succulent lamb chops (
€
11)—
though the locals really come for a traditional
filleto di cavallo
(horse-meat steak;
€
12) like grandma used to make. The homemade pastas are wonderful and served
in copious portions; try the
strozzapreti
(pasta so rich it'd “strangle a priest”) with
zucchini and saffron (
€
7.50).
Why You're Here: The Top Sights & Attractions
When the abbess of the convent containing the
Camera di San Paolo
5
(Via Melloni, 3, just off Piazza Pilotta, down a little gated, shade-lined street;
%
0521-233309; www.gallerianazionaleparma.it;
€
2; Tues-Sun 8:30am-1:45pm)
sought to commission an artist to fresco her dining room, she went to Correggio,
a High Renaissance master who lived and worked in Parma in the early 16th cen-
tury. He rose to the occasion by turning the room's late-Gothic umbrella vaulting
into a magnificent deep green pergola framing colorful, muscular
putti
(cherubs).
His portrait of the abbess as Diana, goddess of the hunt and—more to the point
in a convent—of chastity is painted above the fireplace. These intimate rooms are
an excellent place to begin a tour of Parma—you'll encounter Correggio again in
the city's churches and its museum, but nowhere else are you able to observe his
work so closely. The ceiling of the adjacent room (which you actually pass
through first) was frescoed in 1514 by Alessandro Araldi.
Parma's
Duomo
(Piazza del Duomo;
%
0521-235886; daily 9am-12:30pm
and 3-7pm),
made of soft pink marble (very dirty, though in 2005 they were in
5
