Private Half Day Tour to Parma the City of Perfume

The greenhouses of the Ducal Park introduce to the discovery of the botanical characteristics of the famous “Violetta di Parma”, already present within the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza in the second half of the Eighteenth Century.

We will visit the exterior of the Palazzo della Pilotta, built in the early Seventeenth Century by the Farnese as an imposing container for the court's services. We will retrace the dynastic passages that followed the extinction of the Farnese dynasty.

We will visit the exterior of the Palazzo di Riserva, inside which the Glauco Lombardi Museum is located, to retrace the great success of the violet flower under the First and Second Empire and Maria Luigia of Austria’s predilection for the small flower, widely testified by the collections of the Glauco Lombardi Museum.

We will take a look at the exterior of the Teatro Regio, one of the most important Opera Houses in the world, where internationally renowned artists, such as Paganini, Verdi, Toscanini, Callas and Beniamino Gigli, have played, sung and worked.

We will cross Piazza Duomo and we will admire the Cathedral from the outside.

We will observe the magnificent Baptistery of Parma from the outside.

The visit to Violetta di Parma 1930 shop will allow us to retrace the life of Ludovico Borsari, to learn about the famous products made by the Borsari Company during the first half of the Twentieth Century and contemporary local glass industry represented by the Bormioli Company.

We will walk through Garibaldi Square, overlooked by beautiful buildings such as the Captain’s Palace, the Town Hall and the Governor’s Palace, and also shops, restaurants and cafes which have earned the town the title of “UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy”.

We will visit an Acqua di Parma store, to get to know the brand from its origins to new variations and the history of the companies of the Parma perfume supply chain, which arose many years ago, by intuition of the founders, in small laboratories, to grow to the point to have become some of the major references worldwide for perfumery packaging, bottles, caps and labels.

We will visit San Filippo Neri Antique Pharmacy and Oratory of San Tiburzio, a fascinating place hidden in the heart of the historic center, guardian of the cosmetic and pharmaceutical heritage of the city. A galenic laboratory that has preserved untouched its structure dating back to 1789, the perfect place to discover, touch and smell the raw materials once used by apothecaries and perfumers and flip through the ancient recipe books based on natural ingredients, a legacy of ancient knowledge.