The Joys of “Secondary” Cities
A stay in Parma was a good reminder of what's great at home
I live in a city of around 60,000 people, sitting between Madison, Milwaukee and Rockford. For those passing through from Chicago or Minneapolis, my Main Street businesses are charming small-town delights. Most of the locals, however, are content to dine and shop on the north end of town near the six-lane interstate where all the chain restaurants and big box stores line the drag with a dreary familiarity. You’ve seen this strip in every medium-sized American city that you’ve sped by. If locals want a special night out, they will probably head to Madison. Many haven’t been downtown in years.
That blindness to what’s wonderful where you live isn’t unique to Janesville, Wisconsin. You often don’t appreciate what you have under your nose. I admit to being guilty of it, too. I think it’s especially true of “secondary” cities, the smaller regional hubs that don’t have the same amount of diversity and options that a metro area offers. It’s easy to surrender to mindless routines. Driving to downtown isn’t as convenient as a drive-thru or Wal-Mart.
When we travel, particularly in Europe, it’s invariably the smaller cities that we enjoy the most. It’s easier to get around. Locals are happy to see you. There are usually fun boutiques and great locally owned places to eat. Chances are good that you will meet a business owner who is happy to chat and appreciates your business. I know from experience that this is also true of Janesville and many other smaller US cities we have visited.
Discounting what’s great about your own town seems to be a universal habit. Familiarity can truly breed contempt. Our stay in Parma really brought this home for me. We were sitting in this amazing little restaurant, Soj, having an exceptionally beautiful meal of flawless, creative modern Italian cuisine on our last night in Parma. The kitchen opened onto the dining room and there were maybe 20 seats in the place. The vibe was very modern and welcoming and mostly empty on a weeknight. Two local women in their (I’m guessing) late twenties were sitting near us. They heard our American accented English and were curious — what in the world were we doing in Parma? Parma is boring! The South is so much better!
They were stunned when we told them about all the wonderful things we enjoyed during our four days in their city. In the region, Bologna and Modena get more attention from tourists. We skipped Modena for the most part but truly enjoyed the incredible food and the cool, shaded marble colonnades of Bologna. The mortadella? Chef’s kiss.
But from the moment we walked into Parma’s central city, we were enchanted. Our rental was a short walk from a market, lots of excellent restaurants, and bars. The first evening, we wandered around for a bit and sat outside for dinner at Osteria dei Servi where I enjoyed a local favorite, Anolini in Brodo. They are small spheres of beef-stuffed pasta in a rich broth with some local Parmesan cheese grated on top. A classic dish of the region. The table near us was enjoying a Fred Flintstone-sized steak (Bisteccca all Fiorentina) grilled over an open fire at the edge of the patio. It was a Sunday evening in September, still pleasantly warm and tranquil. After a long day of driving, it was like a salve.
Our host was the daughter of the owners, who lived in an apartment below our rental. When we first walked in the building, we were delighted by the lush indoor garden that made up the center of the building with two chubby cats languidly splayed across the furniture. The side facing the entrance was glassed in, so it was basically a catio. We were immediately at home and talking to the kitties daily as we made our way in and out. I’m such a nerd that I took photos of cats at every stop during our month in “Kitaly.” The park nearby was a beautiful haven of ancient trees shading walkways with quiet spots to sit and breathe in the fresh air. The bridges that crossed the Parma River were pedestrian friendly gateways to the old city.
Parma is immensely walkable and its cobbled side streets are bursting with beautiful little boutiques. It’s often in these smaller cities that you will find some truly original shops. We were so disappointed to find that all the little local shops we loved in Rome when we visited 15 years ago were gone — pushed out for bars, restaurants, and expensive international brands. In places like Parma, you can still find cute jewelry, clothing and stationary shops.
I like to buy a pair of earrings from every trip I take. I had no luck in Rome — everything was large and gold and not to my taste. In Parma, I found a little shop with lovely delicate earrings in the window that I fell for hard. Ironically, those earrings were made in Israel. Oh, well, I still love them!
We also found a craft cocktail bar, Choice, not far from our rental. It was dark, intimate and cozy Our bartender spoke English well and made creative, award-winning cocktails. It seemed that the place was more filled with tourists than regulars, which was a shame. But it looks as though two years later they are still going strong. It was the bartender who pointed us to Soj and we were very grateful. We ended up returning to Choice every night of our stay for a tipple before heading out to dinner.
Not surprisingly, we visited a lot of churches in Italy and all of them were spectacular but I was particularly taken with the Piazza Duomo Parma. Sant Maria Assunta Cathedral features a cupola with frescoes by Correggio depicting Mary’s assumption like a whirling moshpit throwing souls up to heaven. Jesus is descending to meet her, in a pose not unlike a person jumping on a trampoline. Not exactly dignified, but spectacular in its vibrant unexpectedness.
Also unexpected is the neighboring San Giovanni Battista Bapistry. Built between 1196 and 1216, every nook and cranny of this octagonal, pink marbled wonder tells a story. There are so many lessons contained inside its walls — the story of Christ, the passing of the seasons, the agrarian calendar, and the workaday world of the 12th century. Then there are all the fantastical creatures — marine monsters, unicorns, griffons, basilisks — and mundane like dogs, birds, horses and humans. Frescoes from the 14th-15th century are piled on for good measure, just in case you’re looking for more inspiration. It’s like being in the middle of a kaleidoscope of humanity from the practical to the profound. There’s so much to take in that it’s absolutely dizzying in a wonderful way.
Parma is also the home of the composer Giuseppe Verdi and the city celebrates their famous son with a festival that runs for a month in September and October. Sadly, we were too early to enjoy opera productions, concerts and celebrations but the beautiful banners promoting the annual event lined the leafy streets.
We didn’t spend much time exploring the Palazzo della Pilotta, with its National Gallery and the Teatro Farnese, but we did enjoy sitting on a bench in the Parco Ducale enjoying a dish of gelato and watching the University of Parma students hustling to their classes. It’s one of the oldest universities in the world and the campus was beautiful on a late summer afternoon with golden leaves gently sailing on the warm breeze.
There was so much we missed during our stay in “boring” Parma. I would have happily stayed another week. It reminds me that every once in a while we need to be tourists in our own home towns.
It’s tempting to stay on the beaten path to check off all the sights you’re “supposed” to see. But travel is so much better when you don’t treat it like a laundry list. Travel is a gift. It’s an opportunity to engage with the world, which is hard to do when you’re queuing up to take a selfie. Put the phone down, sit for a while in a quiet spot, and discover the world around you.
So true…enjoy the journey of a new “place” the people the culture and the food….that is what travel is mostly about, took me a long time to figure that out! Thanks for your latest blog, it was a fun read!