What is Collecchio known for?

Headquarters of the dairy multinational founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961, still the largest employer and a defining presence in town. Medieval pilgrim route between Parma and Fornovo passes through the centro, with the Pieve di San Prospero on the hill above. The Centro Sportivo di Collecchio is the training base of Parma Calcio 1913 and home to the club's youth academy.

Collecchio is a comune in the province of Parma, Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, about 12 kilometers from Parma.

Emilia-Romagna · Parma

Collecchio

The Parma-cintura town on the Via Francigena, home to the Pieve di San Prospero, Parmalat, and Parma F.C.'s training ground.

12 km / 7 mi

Nearest hub (Parma)

14,684

Population

Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Collecchio sitson the right bank of the Taro, thirteen kilometers southwest of Parma along the Via Emilia and the medieval Via Francigena. In medieval documents the town appears as Colliculum, a possession of the bishops of Parma; the Romanesque Pieve di San Prospero on the hill above the town dates from the eleventh century, with a fragment dated 1089 and a three-nave plan completed in the thirteenth. Pilgrims walked through here on the way to Fornovo and the Cisa pass. The town is now better known for two industrial residents: Parmalat, the dairy multinational founded by the Tanzi family in 1961 and headquartered here, and Parma Calcio, whose Centro Sportivo di Collecchio is the club's training base. The Parco Nevicati and the Boschi di Carrega regional park, where the Dukes of Parma kept their hunting grounds, fill the southern half of the municipality.

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Gallery

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Known for

Pieve di San Prospero
Eleventh-century Romanesque parish church on the hill above town, with a three-nave plan completed in the thirteenth century and a fragment dated 1089.
Via Francigena
Medieval pilgrim route through the centro, marked along the Taro variant between Parma, Collecchio, and Fornovo di Taro.
Parco Boschi di Carrega
Regional park of 1,300 hectares in the southern part of the municipality, the former hunting reserve of the Dukes of Parma.
Parco Nevicati
Forty-hectare municipal park along the Taro, with old oaks, jogging paths, and a section dedicated to native Apennine fauna.
Centro Sportivo di Collecchio
Training complex of Parma Calcio 1913, used by the first team and the youth academy since the 1990s.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the working months on the Parma plain. The Taro valley is green in spring and dry-gold in autumn, the months when the Via Francigena fills with pilgrims walking the Parma to Fornovo stage. July and August touch thirty-five degrees with high humidity, and the centro empties between two and five. Winter on the plain is grey and foggy, with Po-valley fog sitting over the fields most mornings between November and February. The Festa del Prosciutto di Parma in September, hosted across the surrounding communes, is the calendar event that draws visitors to Collecchio. Weekday stays in May and October give the Boschi di Carrega park to itself.