Parma may well be the ideal Italian city for a weekend visit. Compact and accessible, it is also crammed with sights. And yes, the ham is great. Christopher Middleton tucks in.

Sara Evans offers a cultural guide to Parma, a city of Renaissance splendours where even the ham is presented as a work of art. By Sara Evans 19 December 2011 • 1:41pm .

This riverside city may be synonymous with fine food — Parma ham, Parmesan — but it also satisfies appetites for art, music and history. Related Article Your diet starts in 37 hours ...

Welcome to Parma, a city of absolute precision when it comes to food. Midway between Milan and Bologna, below the River Po, for centuries this was a major stop on the Via Emilia ­— the Roman ...