Music and Heritage

Parma is a city of art and good food, but it’s also a city of music and drama. This passion is something that goes beyond the simple pairing Parma and Giuseppe Verdi, the world famous opera composer.

This connection is on display in the many events and venues dedicated to music: the Auditorium Paganini, the House of Music, the Arturo Toscanini Birthplace and Museum, the House of Sound and, last but not least, the Regio Theatre, built at the behest of Marie Louise. Opened in 1829, it remains one of the most renowned opera theatres in the world.

If your visit to Parma is dedicated to music, we suggest you start at the Regio Theatre. The building, painted in Parma Yellow colour, towers over the pedestrian part of Strada Garibaldi. This is still the place to be to attend opera, concerts, ballet performances and other contemporary music events. Available according to scheduled rehearsals and the season performances, a guided tour of the theatre will amaze you with anecdotes and curiosities.The Teatro Regio of Parma is the city’s opera house and it is considered one of the most important traditional theatres in Italy. Internationally it is regarded by opera lovers as one of the highest places of the great Italian opera tradition. In addition to operas, concerts and ballets, the Festival Verdi, held every year in September and October in Parma, Busseto and Verdi’s native land, has become the most important Italian music festival.

Since 2016, the Festival Verdi has been enriched by Verdi Off, featuring a series of collateral events, performances, concerts, exhibitions, installations, DJ-sets, meetings, films, and special projects. It is held in Parma and Busseto at the same time as the Festival Verdi.

It features opera, music, plays, cinema, art, photography, and gastronomy. The Festival spreads to the streets, squares, and homes, to share the emotion of coming together in the name of Verdi and to enjoy the greatness and passion of the man and the artist in a light, playful, and inclusive way, in all kinds of places, even the most unexpected ones.