Pilotta Palace

Not far from the complex of Saint Paul, which now houses libraries and cultural institutes, you will find the Pilotta.

The Pilotta is a large building commissioned by Ottavio Farnese and built between 1583 and 1620 to serve the court.
Today, the building is Parma’s cultural center and contains the National Archeological Museum, the Palatina Library, the Bodoniano Museum, the Farnese Theater and the Gallery of Fine Art/National Gallery.
There are also rooms for temporary exhibits and art libraries.

The Archeological Museum

From the portico of the building, you can climb the large staircase designed by Simone Moschino to reach the Archeological Museum.

Duke Philip of Bourbon founded the museum in 1759 to house artifacts discovered in the Roman city of Veleja in the Apennine Mountains.  New pieces are still being added to the collection. 

The museum also contains an important collection of coins and medallions, ancient inscriptions, precious bronze pieces, utensils and armor from pre- and protohistory. There is also a series of statues taken from the ancient Roman forum at Veleja. And last but not least, there is the Tabula Alimentaria Traiana, a large bronze artifact also taken from Veleja.

The Palatina Library

The Palatina Library is also located inside the Pilotta. The library was founded by Duke Philip of Bourbon and has an impressive selection of books. In the 19th century, Gian Bernadro de Rossi, a celebrated Asian specialist, purchased the library and expanded the collection to over 700,000 works.  There is also a collection of over 60,000 prints, assembled by Massimiliano Ortalli and purchased by Marie Louise. 

The collection is housed in a special room decorated with scenes from the Divine Comedy, painted by Francesco Scaramuzza.
In addition, the Palatina Library houses an important and unique group of 26,000 character stamps and 56,000 type settings used by Gianbattista Bodoni to print on old presses.  These tools are the nucleus of the museum’s holdings and located in a special gallery dedicated to Bodoni on the top floor of the building.

The Pilotta contains the Gallery of Fine Art/National Gallery and the Farnese Theater