parco ducale

A short walk from the city center - turn back the clock about a century and a half. No traffic. No crowds. It makes for a lovely, refreshing stroll. Makes for a nice hour or so - more if you take in the expansive Ducale palazzo.

The park has children's park area with rides. You can purchase rides on small scooters for the kids too. there is also a small cafe in the middle wonderful coffees and snacks available. It is a wonderful place to take a break and people watch.

The local people really make good use of this park for family walks and bike rides, which gives it a friendly vibe. We used it simply to walk from our hotel to the centre of Parma.

Across the river this verdant space provides an opportunity to stroll or to sit and rest after sight seeing. The Farnese palace stands squarely in on quadrant of the park as a reminder that Parma was heavily influenced by French rather than Italian tastes.

But that's what parks are for. Large, very green, but not exceptionally well maintained. If you are looking to kill time while waiting for the Baptistery to open it's a nice place to go. Not worth a visit or a detour though unless you really want to see big trees.

To the palace after circling it for half an hour. The only signs were outside a locked door. Part of the building is the carbinieri! Pressed an intercom at one locked gate but just got a response in Italian.

The big parco in the middle of the city center, just behind the Palazzo della Pilotta, gives the perfekt setting for a relaxing break to the sightseeing. Don't miss the small lake in the back of the parco which is full of small seaturtles and fishes! The parco is just beautiful.

From the Palazzo della Pilotta, you cross the river that divides Parma in two to find the Parco Ducale. On a very warm day in late May 2013 it's a nice place to go for a walk and enjoy the greenery.Very pretty.

On a Monday, most things in Parma were closed but we were able to buy bread, cheese and ham which we took to the Parco Ducale for a picnic. There were plenty of seats and lots of shady trees; many family groups were having picnics.

This was recomended as a great place to visit. A large space with walking and cycling paths between large trees. But not gardens etc. The one cafe has no amenities, you have to go to the local pkayground for a toilet, without a door latch, and any signs do not indicate the correct place.Having said that if you hire a bike it would be a lovely place to trial out your skill and venture forth.

This nice park is a place to go if you want to relax a bit. Here you can find a lot of people biking, walking, running, chatting or having a picnic. The park has both a pavement and a dirt path. At the back of the park is a large pond with ducks and tortoises. Well worth your time, especially for getting some exercise! Our hotel had a exit into the park so it was nice to pass through there while returning back. It is also very safe in the evening. The park closes at 12am.

We went to visit Palazzo Ducale but it is only open between 9.00am and 12.00pm, so we went for a stroll in the park instead.Contrary to other reviews, we found the park to be well maintained and clean. It is primarily just open parkland with a variety of trees and plants. At the opposite end to the Palazzo is a fish pond with a fountain on an island that dates back to the early 1700's. There are large fish, turtles and ducks in/on the pond.It isn't a major attraction in its own right, but we didn't find it to be run-down as others have implied.

Spent the afternoon here, quite nice the walk And I found a cafe area which provides beautiful And relaxing environment though it's a little bit expensive for students And the service is not quite good (as usual in italy:-P)

I suppose it was expecting too much to think that this park would have anything in common with parks in France laid out in a similar fashion. The maintenance is one level up from scruffy.

Well , we were lucky that we discovered many years ago, that the place to be on a Sunday , anywhere in the world , are the public gardens. That is, if you enjoy watching kids do their stuff and Grannies and Mums and Dads and Uncles and Aunts spending up big on hire carts, canoes, bikes and scooters and digging even deeper into the wallet, when an ice cream vendor is spotted. Yes, this is the life.The Ducal Gardens has all these fun things on offer, plus a marvelously clean central lake that is fed by an underground stream and has the usual quackers and honkers ,plus a meat eating tortoise that feeds mainly on the surface and takes care of any dead fish or birds that come to a sticky end on the lake. There are several hundred fish here that do not appear to be the usual carp as they don't feed on the bottom and specimens were sighted up to a metre long, swimming near to the surface. These things combine to make an interesting free day of people watching. If in Parma, do not miss this tranquil park as it is easy walking from downtown.