Violetta di Parma

The Lombardi museum's own biography sets the dates: she entered her duchy on April 19, 1816 and died in Parma on December 17, 1847. Our article on Marie Louise, the duchess who made Parma tells her story. The best place to meet her in person is the Museo Glauco Lombardi at Strada Garibaldi 15, which collects her portraits and belongings.

• Ticket €7; €5 for over-65s, 15 to 17-year-olds and groups of 20 or more.
• Tuesday to Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday and holidays 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (2 p.m. on Sundays in July and August); closed Monday.

We looked for violet objects in the museum's online room guides and found none named, so go for the duchess, not the flower.

The Collezione Borsari 1870, described by the Region as the first Italian perfumery museum, keeps the company's tools, distilling equipment, bottles, labels and advertising from 1870 to the mid-20th century, plus the original laboratory bench with its essence bottles. The register notes that the firm paid close attention to image: bottle shapes, printed labels and even scented calendars handed out in hairdressers' salons.

What we could not verify: the collection's opening hours, whether visits need booking, and current Violetta di Parma prices. Borsari's own website refused our connections on September 29, 2026, and we do not quote prices from resellers or auction listings. Ask at the tourist office, Strada Garibaldi 18, open daily 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Guidebooks mention sugared violets as a Parma sweet. We could not confirm a Parma pastry shop that makes them in 2026, or a price, so we name none. If you find them, they are a souvenir, not a local dessert tradition you will see on menus: none of the restaurant menus we read for this guide (Tribunale, Ai Due Platani, Cocchi, Brisla) lists anything made with violets.

If you want a Parma food souvenir you can actually carry, buy Parmigiano Reggiano, which US customs allow and which a dairy shop sells at €22.90 a kilo. If you want the violet, buy the perfume in town and treat it as the one non-edible item on your list. And if it is the duchess you are after, pair the Lombardi museum with a Teatro Regio tour (€12, about 30 minutes) across the street for the city's 19th-century grandeur.