Parma, Italy

Parma is a medieval city in northern Italy, with splendid architecture and a fine countryside around it. The city was most probably founded and named by the Etruscans, for a parma (circular shield) was a Latin borrowing, as were many Roman terms for particular arms, and "Parmeal" "Parmni" and "Parmnial" are names that appear in Etruscan inscriptions. Diodorus Siculus (XXII, 2,2; XXVIII, 2,1) reported that the Romans had changed their rectangular shields for round ones, imitating the Etruscans. Whether the Etruscan encampment was so named because it was round, like a shield, or whether its situation was a shield against the Gauls to the north, is more a matter of choice.

With Piacenza Parma was part of the combined Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, until the unification of Italy..

It hosts the Teatro Regio, a famous opera theatre.

Stendhal was inspired by its Certosa (Charterhouse) for one of his best known books (La Chartreuse de Parme).

The town is also famous for its cheese "Parmigiano Reggiano" (which pride it shares with Reggio Emilia), for its Parma ham, and now for its international commercial brand Parmalat.

Famous people from Parma:

• Francesco Mazzola, called 'Il Parmigianino', 16th century painter
• Sisto Badalocchio, painter
• Giambattista Bodoni, typographer