Parma - The Castles of the Duchy

The provinces of Parma and Piacenza, which gives us the story contained
within the old boundaries of the Duchy of the Farnese and Bourbon, can
be described as a "reservoir"of castles.

Culture, Arts and Environment, together with a great gastronomic
tradition are the essence of this land between the Apennines and the Po,
just an hour's drive from Milan or half an hour's flight from Rome.

Castles, fortresses, palaces, fortresses are open to visitors along the
roads that intertwine the two provinces, on the spurs of the mountains,
the hills sloping down to the plains, in the lands near the great river Po

Historic structures, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, considered one of
the richest and best preserved in Italy provide an opportunity to
understand the evolution of architecture, as well as political and
social, not only of this land, but Italy itself.

The Duchy was created in 1545, with the ascension to the papacy of
Cardinal Alessandro Farnese with the name of Paul III, which creates a
state for the illegitimate son Pier Luigi.
Since then, until the unification of Italy, for about 300 years to
succeed the government of the Duchy of representatives of the Farnese
and Bourbon dynasties, until the Congress of Vienna, when it is
delivered to Maria Luigia of Habsburg-Lorraine, daughter Francis I of
Austria and wife of Napoleon Bonapaparte.

Visitors to the Castles of the Duchy you can read their story of the
powerful families who have inhabited the great artists who worked there,
of love, betrayal and the struggles that made ​​them famous.