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00 Collecchio
Stemma di Collecchio

Emilia-Romagna · Parma

Collecchio

A Parma-cintura town on the Via Francigena, known today for a dairy multinational's headquarters and a football club's training ground.

Best time
Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
By car
18 min from Parma
By train
Station in the comune
Population
14,684

Known for

  • PARMALAT

    Headquarters of the dairy multinational founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961, still the largest employer and a defining presence in town.

  • VIA FRANCIGENA

    Medieval pilgrim route between Parma and Fornovo passes through the centro, with the Pieve di San Prospero on the hill above.

  • PARMA F.C. TRAINING

    The Centro Sportivo di Collecchio is the training base of Parma Calcio 1913 and home to the club's youth academy.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

  • J7°
  • F12°
  • M14°
  • A18°
  • M22°
  • J28°
  • J31°
  • A31°
  • S25°
  • O19°
  • N12°
  • D7°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Prospero di Reggio Emilia, 24 November

Why come

Collecchio sits on the right bank of the Taro, thirteen kilometers southwest of Parma, where the Via Emilia and the Via Francigena run together. In medieval documents the town appears as Colliculum, a possession of the bishops of Parma. The centro lies on the flat valley floor, with the parish church set apart on the hill above it, and the two industrial sites, the dairy headquarters and the football training ground, occupying the built-up town rather than the countryside around it.

The southern half of the municipality is given over to parkland: a municipal riverside park along the Taro and, further out, the wooded former hunting reserve of the Dukes of Parma. A town shaped by a bishop's holding and a pilgrim road has ended up defined by a milk company and a football club, with its church and its woods left to mark what came before.

The Sunday letter

Collecchio is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Collecchio comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Collecchio in our articles

How to get there

From Bologna (BLQ), about 1h 19m by car.

Milan (BGY) is about 2 hours away.

By car from the centre of Parma 18 minutes or Brescia 1h 29m.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Bologna, Milan or Verona?

Coming by train into Parma? Collecchio is about 19 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Bologna airport.

Collecchio, photo 1
Collecchio, photo 2

What to see

  • Pieve di San Prospero

    The three-nave interior is reached by climbing the hill above the centro; the walls show the masonry seams of construction stretched across two centuries.

  • Via Francigena

    The Taro variant is marked with waystones through the centro, following the line pilgrims once walked toward the Cisa pass.

  • Parco Boschi di Carrega

    Wooded grounds once reserved for ducal hunting, now open with trails through the trees across the southern municipality.

  • Parco Nevicati

    A riverside stretch of old oaks along the Taro, with jogging paths and a section set aside for native Apennine fauna.

  • Centro Sportivo di Collecchio

    The training ground has drawn Parma Calcio 1913's first team and youth academy to Collecchio since the 1990s.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Collecchio fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Living here

  • Population 14,684
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Bologna, 1 h 19 min drive
  • Regional capital Bologna, 1 h 23 min drive

Common questions

What is Collecchio known for?
Collecchio is a Parma-cintura town on the Via Francigena, known today for a dairy multinational's headquarters and a football club's training ground.
Where is Collecchio?
Collecchio is a comune in the province of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna, at 112 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Collecchio?
Bologna (BLQ), about 1h 19m by car.
Can you get to Collecchio without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Parma to Collecchio?
About 18 minutes by car.
When is the best time to visit Collecchio?
Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Collecchio?
The town keeps its patron saint's day: Prospero di Reggio Emilia, 24 November.
Which other towns are like Collecchio?
Santarcangelo di Romagna, Gorgonzola and Spilamberto.
How many people live in Collecchio?
14,684 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 112 m
  • Population: 14,684
  • Surface area: 58.83 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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