Duke Ottavio Farnese - The beginning In 1545,
Pope Paul III created the hereditary
Duchy of Parma for his natural son,
Pier Luigi Farnese (1503–1547). It was held by the
House of Farnese until 1731, when the last Farnese duke,
Antonio Farnese, died without heirs. Initially,
Piacenza was the capital of the duchy. But, Pier Luigi's son,
Ottavio Farnese (1524–1586) moved the capital to Parma. Unlike, the monumental residence in Piacenza, the
Palazzo Farnese, the ducal palace in Parma was modest. Background was the empty ducal treasury, due to economic conditions and the manu wars that ravaged northern Italy in the second half of the 16th century. The palace was only a set of neighbouring houses, along the current Strada Garibaldi, which were acquired for temporarily use by the ducal court. In addition, across the Parma river, Ottavio transformed an ancient
Visconti fortress into a summer residence surrounded by gardens, the current
Palazzo del Giardino. In 1580, Ottavio decided to connect his Parmesan palaces by building a large corridor that connected the ducal palace with the 'Rocchetta Viscontea', a keep of which traces can be seen next to the Parma river. He probably involved the architect,
Francesco Paciotto, to do the design. The project echoed the idea, never realized, of connecting the two Farnese residences in Rome via a bridge: the
Palazzo Farnese and the
Villa Farnesina. It can also be compared to the
Vasari Corridor in
Florence, which connected the
Palazzo Vecchio with the
Palazzo Pitti, allowing safe passage for the
Medici grand dukes of
Tuscany. Construction of the corridor started in 1581, but were halted in 1586, when Ottavio passed away. Fragments have been preserved in the south side of Pilotta courtyard. Over the next fifty years, additional buildings and courtyards were added to the corridor. This complex is now known as the
Palazzo della Pilotta.
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (1545–1592), showed less interest in continuing the works on the ducal palace, as he mostly stayed in Brussels, being
Governor of the Spanish Netherlands.
Duke Ranuccio I Farnese - The Pilotta palace In the start of the 17th century, duke
Ranuccio I Farnese (1569–1622) decided to reconstruct the set of houses in a new ducal palace. Connected with the Palazzo della Pilotta, this became a large residential complex. The architect
Simone Moschino (1553–1610) was responsible for the project, although with the significant contribution of duke Ranuccio I himself. The Palazzo della Pilotta was essentially intended to be a "services palace", that is, it would contain various services linked to the ducal court. This would simultaneously relieve and dignify the old ducal palace located a little further east. The complex included a large banquet hall, a monumental staircase, stables, coach houses, wardrobes, and numerous accommodations for the household staff, all connected through various galleries and courtyards. This set-up was again inspired by El Escorial. Similarly, the
imperial staircase of the Spanish building also served as inspiration for the one in the Parmesan palace. The first campaign of works was carried out between 1602 and 1611 and included the southern courtyard of the complex, now the Pilotta courtyard, built around duke Octavio's corridor. Only the eastern area, adjacent to the ducal palace and the church of San Pietro Martire, remained unfinished. The second campaign started in 1617, with the transformation of the large hall of the west wing into the Farnese Theater, which forced the relocation of various services, such as the stables, which was rebuilt further north. The third campaign began in 1620, with the works on the southwest facade facing the Ghiaia, which remained incomplete due to the duke's death in 1622. In the last two campaigns, the duke's collaborating architect was
Pier Francesco Battistelli.
The last Farneses - Shifting attention In 1622, Cardinal-Regent
Odoardo Farnese (1573–1626) appointed the Roman architect
Girolamo Rainaldi (1570–1655) as the new court architect. His first objective was to complete the Pilotta with a grand Baroque facade to the east, topped by a very tall central tower. However, nothing was ultimately achieved, leaving the Palazzo della Pilotta as a large unfinished building, the result of contradictory projects, which was never inhabited by the ducal family and was destined for ancillary services. The last dukes of the Farnese house also failed to remove the Dominican monks from the monastery of San Pietro Martire, which was supposed to be demolished for the continuation of the works. Also, they shifted their building activities to ducal palace of
Colorno and the
Rocca Sanvitale in
Sala Baganza. Transformations in the Pilotta and the ducal palace, still a heterogeneous mix of several buildings, focused mainly on the interior, adapting the spaces for ceremonial and daily life and to display the magnificent art collection and library of the Farnese. After the death of the last duke, Antonio Farnese, in 1731, the duchy was inherited by the Infante
Charles of Spain (1716-1788), son of Spanish Queen
Elisabeth Farnese (1692–1766). Becoming the
king of Naples in 1734, Charles ordered the transfer of the fabulous collections of the Farnese to Naples between 1735 and 1738. They are currently exhibited in the
Museo di Capodimonte and in the
National Archaeological Museum.
The Bourbon dukes of Parma - Unrealized dreams After an interlude of more than ten years, during which Parma was under the rule of the
House of Habsburg, in 1748 the duchy regained its independence with the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and Infante
Fhilip (1720–1765), another son of Elisabeth Farnese, became the new duke. He primarily focused on embellishing the ducal palace of Colorno, but in 1750, duke Philip commissioned a new northern facade for the ducal palace. This
rococo facade was the work. of Antoine Carlier and Jean Marie Bigoeud. This intervention was to be overshadowed by the projects of the following decade. Duke
Ferdinand I (1751–1802) considered the ducal palace too modest. On the other hand, the grand square, inspired by the French royal squares, would extend to the present-day Strada Cavour, surpassing in size the other two squares of the city, the Piazza Grande and the Piazza del Duomo, symbolizing the preeminence of the sovereign over municipal and religious power, respectively. However, Petitot's plan first required the demolition of numerous buildings between the Palazzo della Pilotta and the current Garibaldi road, including half of the old ducal palace and the new 1750s facade. These massive demolitions happened in 1766. In 1801, Napoleon incorporated the Duchy of Parma into France. Nothing much happened to the ducal palace, except for the demolition of the Dominican church and convent of San Pietro Martire in 1813, which had been one of the main obstacles to the realization of many architectural projects in the past.
Marie Louise of Habsburg - The neoclassical palace '' by
Joseph Franque (1811–1848) around 1830 before the neoclassical reconstruction by Marie Louise in 1833 In 1816, upon the arrival of the new Duchess of Parma,
Marie Louise (1791–1847),
Napoleon's second wife, the old ducal palace still presented a rather labyrinthine and heterogeneous appearance, as depicted in a painting by Giuseppe Alinovi from around 1830. The large space left by the demolitions of the 18th century was now occupied by a square, called Piazza di Corte, which roughly corresponds to the current Piazza della Pace. On the right (west) stood the facade of the Ducal Palace that had survived the demolitions of 1767, with a temporary neo-Renaissance facade made by Petitot. In the background (south) appeared the rooftops of the Teatro Regio and the basilica of Santa Maria della Steccatta. Just in front of the aforementioned structures, there was a low building, almost an elevated passageway, which housed the guardhouse and connected the Ducal Palace with the
Palazzo di Riserva, located on the left (east). The latter, currently the Glauco Lombardi Museum, had been built in 1764 by Petitot to accommodate the duke's illustrious guests, as well as a court theater. Initially, Maria Luisa only concerned herself with adapting the rooms for herself, her second husband Count
Adam von Neipperg (1775–1829), and their children. A series of watercolors by Giuseppe Naudin precisely depict the interiors, which were more bourgeois than royal, of the palace.
Gallery: A tour of the palace interiors in the time of Marie-Louise (1832) through the watercolours by Giuseppe Naudin File:Throne Room of the Ducal Palace of Parma 1832.jpg | The throne room File:Princes Reception Room of the Ducal Palace of Parma 1832.jpg | Reception room File:Study Room of the children of Marie-louise in the Ducal Palace of Parma 1832.jpg | Study of Marie-Louise's children File:Bedroom of Adam von Neipperg.jpg | Bedroom of
Adam von Neipperg File:Bedroom of Marie-Louise of Austria.jpg | Marie-Louise's bedroom Finally, in 1833, duchess
Marie Louise (1791–1847),
Napoleon's second wife, engaged the architect
Nicola Bettoli to reconstruct the facade in neoclassical style. Immediately after the Second World War, it was demolished leaving a hole in the middle of the city centre. Image:Parma Palazzo Ducale - Plan of the palace and its surroundings in 1856.jpg|Plan of the ducal palace and its surroundings in 1856 Image:Parma – Ex palazzo Ducale della Prefettura (xilografia).jpg|The ducal palace around 1888 Image:Parma Palazzo Ducale - Around 1921.jpg|The ducal palace around 1921 Image:Parma, palazzo della pilotta 01.jpg|View of the Piazale della Pace with the Palazzo della Pilotta, on the left is the former location of the Ducal Palace of Parma Image:Palazzo della Pilotta - Parma.jpg|View of the Piazale della Pace with the Palazzo della Pilotta in direction of where the location was of the Ducal Palace of Parma ==Gallery: Maps and Plans of the Ducal Palace of Parma==