PARMA, the capital of the above duchy, stands in a beautiful plain, on the river of the same name, which is crossed by three bridges, 12 miles S. of the Po, and 72 S.W. of Milan. It is of an oval form, more than 4 miles in circumference, and is surrounded with walls and ditches. The streets are straight and regular, the principal being the old Roman Via Emilia, running from E. to W. Many of the buildings are very handsome. The cathedral, consecrated in 1106, though in a mixed Lombard and Gothic style, is a noble edifice; and contains in the interior of its octagonal cupola a magnificent fresco by Coreggio, representing the Assumption of the Virgin. Parma contains one of the most splendid baptisteries in Italy, built of marble, and adorned with numerous paintings and statues. There are many other churches adorned with works of art, chiefly by Coreggio. The Farnese or ducal palace is an immense pile of building, and contains the great Farnese theatre, a library of 100,000 volumes, a picture gallery, and a museum of antiquities. Several of the other palaces of the nobility are fine buildings. The town has also an academy attended by about 400, an episcopal seminary, some inferior schools, a new theatre, and several charitable institutions. It is the residence of the duke, the see of a bishop, and the seat of the government and supreme court of law. There are here manufactories of silk, leather, carpets, cotton and woollen goods, paper, glass, earthenware, saltpetre, and other articles; and a ducal printing-press, which has issued some of the finest specimens of typography in Europe. Hardly any remains have been preserved of the ancient Parma, which occupied the same site. Pop. (1854) 41,091.