Parma in 3 days

Day 1 (not a Monday): the Duomo at 9 a.m., San Giovanni, the Baptistery, lunch at Osteria dei Mascalzoni, Toscanini's birthplace and the Parco Ducale, the Steccata, the Pilotta from 5 p.m. for €10, Strada Farini and dinner at Brisla. Full timings in Parma in 1 day. About €181 for two.

Day 2 (Tuesday to Saturday): Caseificio Ugolotti's 9 a.m. dairy tour (€23), the 11:21 a.m. line 12 bus to Torrechiara castle (€8), a late lunch at Trattoria dei Corrieri, San Francesco del Prato and the Casa del Suono, and dinner at Trattoria del Tribunale. About €244 for two. Timings in Parma in 2 days.

1. 9:23 a.m. City line 23 from Parma station (stop on viale Bottego), hourly Monday to Saturday, €4. Tap a contactless card on the validator or use the Teseo TEP app; drivers sell no tickets. Arrive in Fontanellato at 10:03 a.m.
2. 10:15 a.m. The Rocca Sanvitale, Piazza Matteotti 1, €12 for the full route. The ground floor and Parmigianino's Diana and Actaeon room are self-guided; the upper rooms and the 19th-century camera obscura go by guided tour, on weekdays at 10:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2:45 p.m. and 4 p.m. (plus 5:15 p.m. to October). Tours are in Italian. The 10:15 a.m. tour is the one this plan catches. Allow an hour.
3. 11:30 a.m. Look into the moat and the arcades. On the third Sunday of the month (next: October 18, 2026) an antiques market fills them.

The castle closes 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays; the Labirinto does not. That is why the castle comes first.

The Labirinto is about 5 km from the castle and no bus goes to the gate. The Labirinto gives a taxi number, +39 347 3731302, and publishes no fare for this short leg; ask for a quote when you call, and book the return leg at the same time. For scale, Radio Taxi Parma's fixed daytime fare from Parma to the Labirinto is €35 one way; its meter runs €4 plus €1.60 per km.

• Ticket: €20 from age 26, €16 for ages 6 to 25 and students. It covers the maze, Ricci's collection of about 500 works, and the temporary show, which from October 3, 2026 to January 6, 2027 is Visioni, on the comic artist Milo Manara.
• Time: the Labirinto says visitors take about 45 minutes in the maze and 45 in the museum. Two and a half hours with lunch.
• Lunch: the entrance court has a restaurant and a bistro, free to enter. They do not publish prices, so we cannot put a number on it.
• Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. until October 31, 2026 (last entry 5:30 p.m.); from November 1, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (last entry 4:30 p.m.). Closed Tuesdays, December 25 and January 1, and it closes at 6 p.m. on October 2, 2026.

Keep your castle ticket. The Castelli del Ducato circuit lists it among the tickets that get the €16 reduced price at the Labirinto, but the Labirinto's own list does not mention it, so ask rather than count on it. Our verdict on whether the maze is worth €20 is on Is the Labirinto della Masone worth it?

1. 2:45 p.m. Taxi back to Fontanellato.
2. 3:26 p.m. Line 23 back; Parma station at 4:05 p.m.
3. 4:30 p.m. An easy hour: the Pinacoteca Stuard (€4, closed Tuesdays) or the parks walk, free.
4. 8 p.m. Dinner at Osteria del 36, Strada Aurelio Saffi 26/A, a Michelin-listed kitchen at about €30 a head on TheFork; closed Sunday. On a Sunday night, book Trattoria dei Corrieri, open every day. With a car or a taxi, I Tri Siochètt, 5.6 km (3.5 miles) out, is a Bib Gourmand dinner Tuesday to Saturday.

With a car the day is simpler: 26 minutes to Fontanellato, 10 minutes from the castle to the maze, 25 minutes back to Piazza Garibaldi from the Labirinto. Leave the car outside the ZTL, the limited traffic zone, or buy the €10 day pass before you drive in. If you still have energy, the Rocca di Soragna is 8 km from Fontanellato, with weekday tours at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

For opera lovers, Busseto beats the maze. It works Tuesday to Saturday without a car, following the plan on our Busseto page:

1. 9:27 a.m. The one direct weekday train from Parma, €4.50; Busseto at 9:59 a.m.
2. 10:30 a.m. Teatro Verdi, guided visits every 30 minutes, then Casa Barezzi, 250 m away, guided at 11 a.m. or noon.
3. 1:55 p.m. TEP line 2120 to Roncole (2 p.m.) for Verdi's birthplace, open from 2:30 p.m.
4. 6:20 p.m. Line 2120 back to Busseto, then the 6:50 p.m. train to Parma, arriving 7:25 p.m.

The combined ticket for the theater, Casa Barezzi and the birthplace is €15. For two: €30 in tickets and €18 in train fares. The Busseto to Roncole bus fare and lunch in Busseto are not priced on our pages. All three sites close on Mondays, and Villa Verdi at Sant'Agata has been closed since 2022. During the Festival Verdi (October 1 to 25, 2026) the Teatro Verdi stages Aida on October 2, 9, 16 and 25, so call before a visit on those days.

Busseto instead of Fontanellato: day 3 costs €48 in tickets and trains plus the bus hop and meals, so the three-day total drops to about €473 before lunch and dinner on that day. Hotels are extra: two nights at Hotel Stendhal, opposite the Pilotta, were €151 on October 14 and €114 on November 11, 2026, room only, plus €4 per adult per night in city tax.

Museum entrance ticket - Full (Museo del Violino, Cremona)

The museum's standard ticket is €14 on its own site, €4 less than here. Closed Mondays; last entry 45 minutes before closing.

1 to 3 hours

4.5★★★★★★★★★★(111 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on Viator

Cesarine: Small group Pasta and Tiramisu class in Parma

The host's address is only sent after booking. Lunch or dinner sessions. Max 12. Not wheelchair accessible.

3 hours

4.9★★★★★★★★★★(34 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on Viator

Fontanellato: Labirinto della Masone Full-Day Entry Ticket

The Labirinto's own adult ticket is €20, so this costs a little more. Includes a discount at Rocca Sanvitale. No transport.

1 day

4.3★★★★★★★★★★(63 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on GetYourGuide

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