Parma rewards a thin wallet: half its greatest frescoes hang in churches that charge nothing, lunch is a €5 panino eaten standing at a marble ledge, and the ducal park, the market and the river path are free. Three days here cost less than one in Florence.
The Renaissance basilica (1521–1539) a block off Piazza Garibaldi charges nothing to enter and holds Parmigianino's fresco of the Wise and Foolish Virgins on the east arch, plus the Farnese ducal crypt below. Open roughly 9:00–12:00 and 15:00–18:00.
A sandwich counter running since 1953, where the house 'Pepèn' panino — pork loin, melted cheese and salsa verde in a crusty roll — costs about €5.50. There are no tables: you eat standing at the ledge or on the kerb with the lunchtime crowd.
Behind the cathedral, this Benedictine church costs nothing and hides Correggio's 1520–24 dome, the Vision of St John, along with frieze panels painted by a young Parmigianino. The three adjoining cloisters are open on the same free entry.
Twenty hectares of free public park laid out in 1561 for Ottavio Farnese and remodelled French-style in 1749: gravel avenues, the Peschiera pool ringed with Baroque statuary, and the ochre Palazzo Ducale. Gates shut at sunset.
Parma's open-air market has traded on the gravel between the Pilotta and the torrente since 1836. Wednesday and Saturday are the big days: fruit at €1–2 a kilo, cheese ends sold cheap, plus stalls of workwear, tools and secondhand books.
The spine of Parma's working-class quarter across the river is where students actually eat: piadineria counters, pizza al taglio windows charging €3–5 a slice, kebab shops and bakeries selling warm torta fritta by weight.
The monks' pharmacy dispensed here from the 13th century until 1766 and survives intact — walnut shelving, painted majolica jars, brass mortars and the original ledgers. Entry is €2, and free on the first Sunday of the month.
A two-flavour cone made with milk from the Parma hills runs about €2.80 at Ciacco, a few steps from the cathedral. Carry it to Strada Farini, the pedestrian street where the whole city walks up and down until well after dark.
The pentagonal Farnese fortress of 1591 is now a free public park enclosed by its original brick ramparts, with a walking loop of roughly 1.2 km on the walls, deep pine shade and the monumental marble gateway still standing.
The riverside path along the Torrente Parma runs flat and car-free some 3 km north to Ponte Nord, the 2011 inhabited bridge with shop units built into its deck. Walking it costs nothing; a rental bike halves the time.
The conductor was born in 1867 in two ground-floor rooms in the Oltretorrente. The house is now a small museum of his batons, scores and letters, with a listening room of his broadcast recordings, for €3. Closed Mondays.
Five hectares of rubble left by the 1944 bombing were cleared and grassed over in 2001, giving the city a free lawn, a long reflecting canal and the widest view of the Pilotta's unfinished brick facade — best in the last hour of light.