PARMA

(includes Pilastro & Polesine Parmense)


HOTELS
●Antica Corte Pallavicina Relais – 3 Strada del Palazzo Due Torri (Polesine Parmense); 011-39-524-936-539; acpallavicina.com; in medieval castle on historic farm estate, Antica Corte; 4-poster beds in 6 rooms with antique furniture, Oriental carpets on tiled floors, and rustic-chic designer bathrooms; following breakfast of flaky crostata tarts and farm-fresh yogurt in vaulted chamber decorated with 15^th Century CE frescoes, guests can amble by farm’s heirloom geese and black Culatello pigs; affordable room prices include gift basket stuffed with fine hunk of Parmesan, fruit, estate’s own wine, and dusky, soft strolghinosalami; hotel offers cooking classes.
●Hotel Torino – 7 Borgo Angelo Mazza; 011-39-521-281-046; hotel-torino.it; friendly and unpretentious; fairly comfortable.
●Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati – 7 Strada al Duomo; 011-39-521-386-429; palazzodallarosaprati.it; suites with kitchenettes in handsome, renovated palazzo right on Piazza del Duomo.



RESTAURANTS
●Antica Corte Pallavicina Relais – 3 Strada del Palazzo Due Torri (Polesine Parmense); 011-39-524-936-539; acpallavicina.com; glass-enclosed restaurant in castle; local cuisine.
●Al Cavallino Bianco – 2 Via Sbrisi (Polesine Parmense); 011-39-524-96136; local cuisine and game.
●Ristorante Cocchi – 16A Via Gramsci; 011-39-521-995-147; Parma’s best restaurant; plain and weirdly located (on city’s ring road’s far side) so you will not believe you have right address (believe it); professional waitstaff attend Italian businessmen, neighborhood dads out with their teenage spawn, and loud Americans; strolghino (skinny salami made from lean leg meat) is carved tableside; come for rice preparations, savarin and bomba di riso (1st tops Parmesan- and risotto-filled cooked ham “envelopes” with veal polpettini and porcini ragù, while, to make “bomb,” braised, deboned, marinated pigeon hidden and layered inside rice-lined dome and baked.
●La Duchessa – Piazza Garibaldi; 011-39-521-235-962; excellent pizza.
●La Filoma – 15 Via 20 Marzo; 011-39-521-206-181; impeccable food in cutesy décor; try risotto with prosciutto and Parmesan.
●La Greppia – 39a Strada Giuseppe Garibaldi; 011-39-521-233-686; more formal than necessary but menu wide-ranging.
●Masticabrodo – 45 Strada Provinciale per Torrechiara (Pilastro); 011-39-521-639-110; masticabrodo.com; trattoria; handsome restaurant serving exquisite Parman specialties.
●Sorelle Picchi – 27 Strada Farini; 011-39-521-233-528; open only at lunch.