It was time to move on to Parma. After an early breakfast, final packing, and posting one final blog post while we still had wi-fi access, it was time to check out and take a cab to the car rental office where we had arranged to get our car. Bill had very efficiently chosen a pickup point that was near the edge of town, so it was a straight shot on to the autostrade. Our newly purchased GPS worked like a charm, and it was an easy ride to Parma – or rather, to the agriturismo in Vicofertile, two km outside of town, where we had a three night reservation.We had decided on Agriturismo Leone based on Slow Travel reviews – thinking it might be nice to be out in the country. It is a working dairy, surrounded by fields of corn and other crops, but it is only a short drive into Parma. We were greeted warmly by Lola, and shown to our room in the farmhouse. It is simple, but spacious, and except for the farm vehicle traffic on the road outside our window, very quiet.
Lola gave us directions to the parking lots nearest the center in Parma, and made some suggestions of things we might want to see, as well as a couple of restaurants where we might want to eat, as the local trattoria in Vicofertile is closed on Tuesdays. After finding the underground parking lot where we could leave the car for more than two hours, we walked into the centro, with the intention of first visiting the Camera di San Paolo, known for its decorated rooms – one with ceiling painted by Corregio. We arrived at 2:20, only to find it closes at 2 pm! But right next door was an intriguing little museum – a collection of marionettes and puppets. Apparently puppetry is an art form which flourished in the Parma area, and this collection was delightful. There were several rooms full of puppets and marionettes through the ages – all the classic commedia dell’ arte figures, knights, nobles, peasants, circus figures, you name it, it was there. Signage was not extensive, but it was fun just looking at the handiwork in both the characters and their costumes. There were also videos showing of interviews with puppeteers and puppet makers at work. It was not anything that was on our list of must sees, but it was great fun.
Our next stop was the Duomo and its adjacent Baptistry, both of which are magnificent, with stunning frescoes. The Bapistry, especially, thrilled me with its soaring arches and frescoed wall panels. We spent a long time sitting inside, admiring the wonderful art.
Walking back from the Duomo I saw a Bialetti shop, and decided it was time to replace the Mukka express I had purchased in Florence in 2005. It has served me well, but was getting a little temperamental, and decidedly shabby looking. So I decided a new machine would be a great souvenir – especially since the price is about half of that charged by Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table – and the sales person was delightful to talk to. She was appalled when I told her how much the machine cost in the US, and what the replacement parts cost, too – at which point she suggested I get an extra basket/valve while I was there.
It was time to sit down out of the sun, so we found a shady table at a café along the Via Cavour, where we spent the next hour enjoying the passagiata – pre teen girls full of drama and high drama; groups of teen aged boys totally self absorbed; a steady stream of residents on bikes – mothers with babies in “bike seats”, seniors with shopping baskets filled; elegant looking women in heels and short dresses, managing to look elegant even while pedaling down the cobbled streets. It was a steady parade of humanity. There was a large gathering of teeny boppers, who were hysterically funny, and kept coming and going in various sub-groups. But perhaps the most interesting was a beautifully made up woman in a stylish spring dress and high heeled sandals. She pulled up on her bike to talk to a trio of equally elegant women having a café next to us – and decided to join them after locking her bike. She was joined a few minutes later by two giggly sisters about 8 and 10, who were seemingly endangering everyone on the street by riding double and weaving in and out of traffic. They were clearly having a wonderful time, and Mama was very sanguine about their antics – her only warning was to watch their feet, and to stay where she could see them. They were having such a great time together – first the older one would pedal with the smaller one riding behind – then the younger one would pedal (clearly she had strong legs), with older sister sitting behind and helping guide the bike by hanging on to the handle bars. I anticipated a tumble and tears at any moment, but clearly this was routine for them, and there were no casualties. Clearly, too, there is general acceptance that children will be children – no one who had to swerve around them or jump out of the way seemed the least bit disconcerted by them.
It was then that strange time in a traveler’s day when it was too late to sit at the café, but too early to find a restaurant. So – we wandered, in search of a stationery store where we could get a mailing tube for the placemats from Tamburini, which were so delightful we asked if we could buy a couple, and were given half a dozen. No stationery store was to be found, but I did find an internet point, and decided to check to see if my credit union had yet responded to my scathing email about my non-working debit card.
There was still no reply – so I sent an angry follow up note. I also tried to call. HAH! I did find out that 800 numbers are NOT free when calling from out of the country; and the customer service number was, as I feared, one of those damned automated phone systems where your call goes into the queue from hell. Not wanting to wait the anticipated 3 minutes to reach an agent, I hung up in frustration, and instead, called my daughter in Illinois. She took all the pertinent information, and promised she would call and demand action.
Feeling much better, we went in search of the Trattoria Corriente, which had been recommended by our hostess as offering local specialties at reasonable prices. We arrived 15 minutes before they start dinner service, but we were invited to come in and sit and wait, which we were glad to do. Here we discovered an amazing local speciality – which we would never have ordered had we not seen it served to another party. Listed among the appetizers was something called torta fritti (fried tart); it turns out that it is a fantastic pillow of fried bread – puffy, served hot, and intended to accompany a plate of local salumi. We had it without the salumi – one order (4 euros) had about six squares of this luscious bread. We shared another local special – paglia e fieno with prosciutto and rucola – homemade white and green tagliatelle with a rich sauce of finely chopped meat, cheese and cream, with lightly braised rucola. We had made the mistake of ordering secondi (will we never learn?), Bill got a stuffed pork steak, I got stinko di maiale – a pork shank braised to tenderness, served with oven roasted potatoes. We did not do justice to these great dishes, because between the large serving of pasta and the yummy bread, we had little room for the main course.
Parma has a very pleasant and compact centro, and is a very easy town to visit. We enjoyed our afternoon there
