[April 2025] After a satisfying lunch in Parma, Italy, we walked towards Palazzo della Pilotta.
This palace was built in the late 16th century to early 17th century, and our goal was to visit the Teatro Farnese inside.
I had seen a photo somewhere and wanted to see it in person.
Apparently, this palace had multiple functions from the beginning, such as a government residence and military warehouse, and even now it is a complex tourist destination that includes this theatre, a library, an archaeological museum, and an art museum.
It cost €18 to enter.
The Teatro Farnese is made of wood.
It is luxurious, but the warmth of the wood is attractive.
However, it was dark for some reason.
There were no chairs in the flat floor, and although there were bench-type chairs around it, you couldn’t get on them.
A short video about this theatre is periodically shown.
There was no seat, so we just sat on the floor and watched the video.
This theatre was built in 1618.
When Cosimo de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany at the time, was coming, the owner of the palace, Ranuccio Farnese, built the theatre in the place that used to be the armoury.
The purpose of the visit was to negotiate a marriage between his son and the daughter of the Medici family, so he built a state-of-the-art theatre at the time to impress the Grand Duke.
However, Cosimo de’ Medici postponed his trip due to illness.
The welcoming ceremony was cancelled, and the theatre was left as it was for as long as 10 years.
In 1628, the marriage of his son to the daughter of the Medici family took place, and the theatre was used for the first time.
However, Ranuccio Farnese, who built the theatre, died in 1622, so he passed away without seeing anything.
This theatre, which can accommodate up to 3,000 people, was too large for a court theatre, so it was not used much even after that.
Most of it was burned down in an air raid during World War II, but it was faithfully rebuilt between 1956 and 1962, so we can see it today.
It is still used for events, with the chairs lined up on the floor.
The back side of this building is a small museum that contains materials related to the theatre.
The wooden structure of the seats forms the ceiling here, and it was a rather interesting structure.
The Palatine Library is on the same floor, so we went in.
This was also impressive.
The theatre smelled of wood, and this one smelled of old books.
This library was built in the 18th century and was apparently an advanced public library for its time.
It is said to have a collection of 700,000 books, including medieval manuscripts and Renaissance humanities books.
I sighed in admiration.
And with that, our tour of Parma came to an end.
We actually wanted to see the Camera di San Paolo, famous for its frescoes, but it was Tuesday and closed.
So we had a spritz at a nearby bar and headed home.
