Correggios in Parma

Parma is cute. And little. And while the food is amazing, you can really see everything you want to see there in the space of half a day. Thank goodness a few weeks ago I had two entire days there, because I really, really saw Parma. There are two primary reasons to go there: Correggios and food. Here I’ll show you the Correggios, next post: foooood.

Correggio is not really one of my favorite artists. Sixteenth-century painters often leave me a little cold, but even I have to give Correggio his due: his ceiling paintings in Parma are beautiful.

In the cathedral:

cathedral

There’s this exuberant display of jumbled legs:

are those frog legs? the rest of the ceiling was really ugly

And then in the church of San Giovanni Evangelista (which is about a 30 second walk behind the cathedral, they are practically connected):

see the sneaky bit of architecture on the upper left edge of the photo? that’s part of the cathedral

there’s this:

I like this one better

But better than both of those dome paintings is the Camera di San Paolo, which is tucked away in a little convent:

entrance to a series of rooms that finally get you to the correggio on the right

where I got to hang out with these ceiling paintings:

pretty!

pretty again!

if Correggio had been on my phd exam, I would have totally bombed it

but now it makes a lot more sense

it should always be putti + dogs

all by myself for a long time. Good job Correggio.

The Camera di San Paolo is about a five minute walk from the Cathedral and San Giovanni Evangelista, so after you spend an hour seeing those things you’re left to wonder… what now? And the answer in Parma is always: EAT!

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