The Ducal Park of Parma is a public garden which extends over 208 square meters in the Oltretorrente district. Here it was built, in 1591, at the behest of the duke Ottavio Farnese. The park is a green lung that is home to various species of trees (about 1500 tree specimens, the most common of which are plane trees, lime trees, horse chestnuts, elms and maples). But it is also a poetic place of great beauty. There you can admire several neoclassical statues and monumental fountains. Inside it also houses some buildings of different styles and eras, a playground for children and other interesting activities for citizens and tourists, such as the Theater at the Park and Crumb Theater. Both offer cultural offers for adults, children and school groups. In the park there are also the Alice's library, dedicated to the little ones, and the Greenhouse of Oranges, which is a coffee.
History
Duke Ottavio Farnese bought the area and land surrounding the Ducal Park of Parma and, where the Ghiara castle, built by Bernabò Visconti, had previously existed, he had a villa built. Of the ancient buildings present on the site until then, only the Palazzetto Eucherio Sanvitale. The latter, in Renaissance style, was built at the beginning of the 1526th century at the behest of the friars of the Order of the Humiliated. Purchased in XNUMX by Count Gian Galeazzo Sanvitale, it is famous for the splendid frescoes that decorate it, including fragments of a painting attributed to Parmigiano. The palace currently hosts temporary exhibitions.
The fishpond
The first garden consisted of a central avenue aligned with the facade of the new one Palazzo del Giardino or Palazzo Ducale, designed by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, surrounded by flower beds and fountains. In 1690, the duke Ranuccio II Farnese, to celebrate the wedding of his son Odoardo II Farnese with Dorotea Sofia of Neuburg, he had the architect Domenico Valphotos build a large ovoid fish pond (which is now a small lake) with an islet in the middle, at the end of the central avenue. This is in order to represent you nautical shows. The eighteenth-century was placed on the islet in 1920 Trianon fountain, created by Giuliano Mozzani. Restored in 1996, it comes from the garden of the Palazzo Ducale in Colorno.
The decline and the rebirth
When the Farnese family died out, in 1731, a period of decline began for the Ducal Park of Parma, which increased during the war of the Austrian succession, when all the secular trees were cut and burned to feed the fires of the troops of Prince Lobkowicz. For its rebirth we must wait until 1749, the year in which it was renovated at the behest of the new duke, Philip of Bourbon. To this end, he commissioned the ducal prime minister Guillame du Tillot, who entrusted the project to the court architect Ennemond Alexandre Petitot, who in turn made use of the studies of France's greatest specialist in garden architecture: Pierre Contant d ' Ivry. The park thus took on the typically French imprint that it still retains today.
A neoclassical park
Renovated in neoclassical style, the Ducal Park of Parma was enriched with ten marble statues, two plastic groups and monumental vases sculpted by Jean Baptiste Boudard, between 1753 and 1766. In 1769 the Tempietto d'Arcadia, on the occasion of the wedding between Ferdinand of Bourbon, son of Duke Philip, and Maria Amalia of Habsburg-Lorraine. Built in the form of a ruin to a design by Petitot, it stands on seven brick columns crowned by Doric capitals. It was for some time the scene of poetry competitions.
Today it belongs to the Municipality
It was the new one Duchess Maria Luigia to introduce new tree species into the park, including the monumental plane trees, planted around 1830 in the so-called square of plane trees, in front of the Palazzo del Giardino. After the unification of Italy the park became the property of the Municipality which opened it to the public. In the following years, the partial neglect favored the spontaneous growth of elms and oaks, which spread among the original lime trees and horse chestnuts. In 1920, a further reorganization of the park was therefore necessary, based on a design by the scenographer Joseph Carmignani.
Beauties to admire
Strolling along the avenues of the park, you will be fascinated by the white marble statues, works of the sculptor Boudard. Among these, of particular value are those depicting Venus and Apollo, Zephyr and Flora, Bacchus and Ariadne. Others are positioned in front of the Garden Palace, including the one that reproduces Pomona, the goddess of fruit. Among the statues on the north side, however, it is worthwhile to dwell on "Silenus Group". The Ducal Park of Parma is not only a wonderful garden, but an ideal place to stroll in peace surrounded by the quiet of nature and the charm of art.
(Photo from the website www.parmawelcome.it)
