You could wonder how I found out about that website, since it’s from UK, while I currently am living in Italy? it’s because the website has also an interesting international section, indeed I found it through a google search, while looking for parking fees on my trip in the Red Sea a few years ago, when I took the airplane from Milan – airport of Malpensa.

Without doubts this is one of the times when I am very grateful that internet and online booking exist: saving yourself stress and time is really important to start a new trip with the right foot!

A few km away from Parma, the Torrechiara castle’s lies on the top of a “small” hill. Surrounded by vineyards, it offers the visitors a wonderful panoramic view of the landscape. You can already spot it from distance, from the road that leads to its feet, and suddenly you feel immersed in a magic atmosphere.

Built by Pier Maria Rossi between the 1148 and 1460, with the purpose of building both a citadel and a luxurious residence, managing to accomplish both goals. It is considered the best and most visited castle of the whole Parma’s region. Those characteristics made it a perfect location for the movie “Lady Hawke”by Richard Donner.

Inside there aren’t many furnitures, mostly decorated walls/rooms, the most famous of them is the “Golden Chamber” rebuild in 1911 by Amedeo Bocchi e Daniele De Strobel. If you want to rest there during the night, you can rent a room in the “Locanda del Castello”, opened all year, which is just inside the castle walls. If instead you’re looking for a great restaurant, we recommend “Antico Mulino”, just below the castle entrance, where you can find delicious dishes!

view of the castle from below, really majestic!

the castle entrance

The castle’s origins dates back to XVI -XVII century, when was under the control of the Landi family. It had public schools, markets and its own currency. After a period of decline, its importance rose again during World War II, in which it became the capital of the “Free territory of Valtaro”.

The castle seen from a street of the village around it

Today, the castle is public property and inside it there are two important museums, and a part of it is now a relais with park, pool and congress center.

There’s a curious legacy between the Castle and the Prince Albert of Monaco, who came to visit the castle the 9th july 2003.

A wonderful rose bush nearby the castle’s entrance

Awarded as one of the most beautiful villages of Italy, the old village of Compiano lies all around the omonimous castle. The old walls surrounding it are perfectly mantained and you can walk over them, enjoying a wonderful sight on the Taro Valley.

another view of the castle from the entrance

The nearest airports are in Parma, Pisa and Geneva, so it is really possible to get there easily and quickly in less than 4-5h of travel with airplane+train from almost anywhere in europe.

If you’re looking to buy a holiday home, it is a very good place: it has less pollution, less traffic, and more quality in the services than all other areas of Italy. There’s a big hospital in Borgo val di Taro, which is the biggest town of the valley, in which you also can find a train station.
From this train station you can reach comfortably the Cinque Terre, or travel to Pontremoli in Tuscany, or get to Parma in just 1h. So, a ideal holiday place for everyone that’s looking to stay in a quiet zone, yet with great restaurants serving excellent local dishes (like the famous mushroom “porcino”). Recently I saw a TV show in which they were talking about this zone as one of the best italian real-estate zones for at least the next 3 years.

Prices are very low compared to other zones of Italy. For example you can get a house with 600m of garden nearby Borgo val di Taro in good conditions for only 159k euros! such a house in other regions of Italy would cost at least twice. Prices are starting to rise quickly though, so I suggest you don’t delay too much!

A word of warning: don’t try that if you aren’t well trained. We did it in Aprile, so it wasn’t too hot for sure, but still was really tiring! also the road does interrupts in some points so it is easy to get lost. It did happen to use and we had to walk the last 1-2km using a main road with cars, not exactly what we were expecting…!

In the picture above a sort of mirage of Giglio Castello. I’m still laughing thinking about it because we were saying “a few steps and we are there” and instead…

…instead as I said we got lost and above you can see that we had to take a walk in the main asphalt road to get there. In the end we arrived there anyway, just in time to buy some food! we started in the afternoon at 2pm and we thought to get there quickly, buy some food (like the exquisite “focaccia”, typical tuscan bread) and then get back.

But instead we had to run to get there in time before the bakeries were closing! anyway, it is a wonderful walk, and when we got back down again to the shore we found out what we did wrong… even if the indication could have been better!