Parma, a town of Italy, formerly the capital of the duchy of Parma, is situated on the ancient Via Emilia, and on the river Parma, 12½ miles S. from the Po, and by rail 56 miles N.W. of Bologna and 79 SE. of Milan. The town is surrounded by walls and has a citadel (1591); the streets are straight and wide. Of the sixty or more churches the chief is the cathedral (1059-74), built mostly in the Lombardo-Romanesque style, with frescoes by Correggio. Other notable edifices are the baptistery, one of the most splendid in Italy, begun in 1196 and completed in 1281; the church of Madonna della Steccata (1521-39), containing 'Moses breaking the Tables of the Law' and other paintings by Parmigiano, and the tombs of the Farnese dukes; the church of St John the Evangelist (1510), with frescoes by Correggio; the ducal palace, containing art-galleries (Correggio's works), a library (214,000 vols. and 4500 MSS., including many incunabula and rare works), the archives, &c.; and numerous other palaces, public and private. There are also a university (1599), with nearly fifty teachers and more than two hundred students, a music school, a museum of antiquities, &c. The principal industrial products are pianofortes, silks, cast-iron wares, woollens, earthenware, paper, soap, &c. There are cattle, corn, and silk markets. Pop. (1897) 52,700. Founded by the Etruscans, Parma became a Roman colony in 183 B.C. After the fall of the western empire it was known as Chrysopolis (Gold Town). A stout opponent of the emperors, it was besieged and taken by Frederick II. in 1245, and again invested, but without success, in 1248. It then belonged successively to the houses of Correggio, Este, Visconti, and in 1511 to the pope. —The province has an area of 1278 sq. m., and (1897) a pop. of 274,210.
Formerly Parma was the name of a sovereign duchy of Italy, lying between the Apennines and the Po, touching Sardinia (Piedmont) on the west and Modena on the east. It comprised the two duchies of Parma and Piacenza, and had an area of 2377 sq. m. (see geography under ITALY). The territories of the cities of Parma and Piacenza fell into the hands of the pope in 1511. Pope Paul III. of the house of Farnese (q.v.) incorporated them (1545) as a duchy for his natural son Pier-Luigi, the grandfather of the celebrated Alessandro Farnese, regent of the Low Countries. On the extinction of the male line of Farnese in 1731 the duchy passed to Don Carlos of Spain, but was transferred to Austria four years later. In 1748 it was restored, along with Guastalla, to the Spanish Bourbons. In 1796 it was seized by the French, in 1802 incorporated with France, and in 1814 was granted to the ex-empress Maria Louisa. On her death in 1847 it passed to the Bourbon Duke of Lucca. From this time until the incorporation with the kingdom of Italy in 1860 the duchy was in a most unsettled condition: the people were strongly revolutionary in feeling, and desired a union with Sardinia; but the rulers were reactionary and, supported by Austria, successfully beat down all attempts at revolution until after the battle of Magenta, when the Austrian troops withdrew and the regent for the youthful duke fled.