a city in northern Italy on the Parma River, a tributary of the Po River, in Emilia-Romagna. Capital of Parma Province. Population, 174,400 (1971).

Parma is an important transportation and agricultural center. It has industries that produce agricultural machinery, cannery equipment, glass, ceramics, cement, and fertilizers. It also has oil-refining, pharmaceutical, and perfume (the well-known Parma violet scent) industries, as well as textile, garment, shoe, paper, and food-processing (including cheese) industries. The city is host to yearly international canned-goods fairs. The University of Parma, established in 1065, is in the city, as are the Academy of Fine Arts, Pinacoteca Stuard, and the Museum of Chinese Art. Parma also has a conservatory.

Parma was first an Etruscan, then a Gallic, settlement. At the beginning of the 12th century it became a commune, but its bishop ruler continued to maintain authority; it attained the status of an independent republic in 1248. In 1167 it joined the Lombard League. In the 14th and 15th centuries it witnessed a struggle between the Correggio, De’ Rossi, Terzi, and other families who laid claim to power in the city. At various times from the 14th to the 16th century, it was part of the Duchy of Milan. It came under the authority of the pope in 1521, during the Italian Wars (1494–1559). In 1545 it became the center of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, which Pope Paul III carved out of the Papal States and gave to his son Pier Luigi Farnese and which existed intermittently until 1860. In the 19th century Parma was a major center of the national liberation and unification movement in Italy, as well as of the workers’ movement. During a national antifascist strike in 1922, its workers entered into an armed struggle with fascists. The city was occupied by fascist German troops in 1943 and liberated by partisans in April 1945.

Parma’s historical buildings include a Romanesque cathedral (11th-12th century) and a Romanesque-Gothic baptistery (1196–1307, architects B. Antelami and others). Structures from the Renaissance include the churches of San Giovanni Evangelista (1494–1607, architects B. Zaccagni the Elder and S. Moschino) and Madonna della Steccata (begun in 1521, architects B. Zaccagni and G. Zaccagni) and the Palazzo della Pilotta (16th-17th century, architects G. Boscoli and others), which now houses the National Gallery and the National Museum of Antiquities. The baroque Farnese Theater (1618, architect G. Aleotti) is also in Parma.