Piazza Garibaldi

A brick palace first stood here in 1283, as the seat of the city's Capitano and later the Governor. What you see is layered on that:

• The bell tower was built in 1673 by the engineer Giovanni Battista Barattieri.
• The sundials. Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, commissioned three sundials in 1829. Look for the lines and dials on the facade below the tower. On a sunny day, check them against your phone.
• The Madonna in the niche under the clock is a statue by Jean-Baptiste Boudard, the French court sculptor whose statues also stand in Parco Ducale. It replaced a 16th-century fresco of the crowned Virgin by Jacopo Bertoja.

The building still holds city offices and is the city's main temporary exhibition space. In front of it stands the statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi by Davide Calandra, which gives the square its modern name. Across the square, the brick Palazzo Municipale was begun in 1627 by the Parma architect Giovanni Battista Magnani and still houses the city council chamber.

The City of Parma and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome are showing more than 60 works in 13 rooms on the palace's first floor: paintings, sculpture, drawings, photographs and tapestries, all portraits of or by women. Named loans include Van Gogh's L'Arlesiana, Modigliani's Signora dal collaretto, Boldini's portrait of the Marchesa Luisa Casati, drawings by Gustav Klimt, a Giacometti Femme de Venise, Medardo Rosso's Bambina che ride and a Picasso pastel, Nu debout, of about 1906.

Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., last entry 6 p.m.; Friday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., last entry 9 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday, December 25 and January 1, with extra openings on December 8, December 31 (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and March 8. Tickets are on presale through Vivaticket and at the IAT, and at the door from October 2. A paid city exhibition ticket also gets you the reduced €12 rate on the city's six-museum pass.

The square's best hour is early evening, roughly 6 to 8 p.m., when Parma walks. People loop from the square down Strada Farini and Borgo Giacomo Tommasini and back, stopping for an aperitivo. Our evening aperitivo walk maps the route and the bars, and Caffè Cavour is just up Strada Cavour.

A word on prices: cafes with tables on or next to the square charge more for table service than at the bar, as everywhere in Italy. We have not published a price survey for the square itself; ask for the price list before you sit down, and stand at the counter if you just want a coffee.

Walking distances we measured from the Palazzo del Governatore:

• Santa Maria della Steccata: about 140 m, 2 minutes. Free; Parmigianino's arch.
• Teatro Regio: about 270 m, 4 minutes.
• Museo Glauco Lombardi: about 330 m, 4 minutes.
• Duomo: about 500 m, 7 minutes, via Strada Cavour and Strada al Duomo.
• Palazzo della Pilotta: about 640 m, 9 minutes.

If you are driving, remember the square is deep inside the limited traffic zone. Park outside and walk.

Parma: City Walking Tour

Daily 10 a.m., plus 3 p.m. Saturdays. Sights are seen from outside and no entry tickets are included.

2 hours

4.2★★★★★★★★★★(223 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on GetYourGuide

Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.