The province is divided into three zones from north to south: thepianura (plains), thecollina (hills) and themontagna (mountains). ThePo river acts as a boundary with the nearby province ofCremona in the plains. The main centres of thecollina andmontagna are situated along the course of the main rivers, which descend from the ParmesanApennine Mountains. Roughly, each zone comprises one third of the total area.
The part in the North of the Province comprisesParma,Fidenza and various smaller towns, and covers from the Po river to the foothills at an altitude of 50 to 100 m amsl. This area has a continental climate, with cold winters (minimum temperatures around −1 °C in the city centres, −3 °C to −4° in the countryside on average) with an average of 45 to 60 cm of snow each year, hot and humid summers (maximum temperatures over 30 °C on average). During autumns and springs it is not uncommon to encounter fog, with an average of 31 days of fog a year in the city of Parma and higher values on the countryside, particularly in the area close to the Po river. During summer, thunderstorms with heavy rain and hail can hit the area. This is the part of the Province that hosts the vast majority of the industrial production, while the rest of the land is extensively used to grow crops, mainly wheat, tomatoes (withMutti and various other producers based here) andalfalfa to feed the cows whose milk is used to produceParmesan cheese.
The centre part of the Province comprises only smaller towns, built in the valleys along rivers or on top of hills for defensive purposes, from the foothills to where theApennine begin to grow into fully developed mountains, between 100 and around 700 m amsl. Many of those towns are built around medieval castles, such asBardi,Torrechiara,Compiano and many others. In this area the climate is slightly different from that of the plains, with less foggy days, milder temperatures (higher minimum temperatures during winter and lower maximum temperatures during summer due to its height that makes it less prone toTemperature inversions. Here, cultivated fields and wide woods coexist, mainly because part of the land is owned by families no longer living in the area, as big chunks of the population migrated to the plains or to other nations, mainly the United States, the United Kingdom and Argentina, over the course of the 20th century.
The southernmost area of the Province is occupied by the ridge of the Apennine, with mountains ranging from 1000 m to the 1850 m amsl ofMount Sillara,Mount Losanna andMount Marmagna. Due to the geographical nature of this mountain range, the Parmesan side, facing North, has considerably longer nights than the rest ofPianura padana and the ItalianAlps, even during summer. In this area the climate is Alpine, with long winters, temperatures frequently reaching double digits negatives and snow falling from October to May, typically leaving the tops snow-free only from mid June to the end of September. During the summer months temperatures reach the lower 20s°C only when intense heat waves hit the region, while minimum temperatures are in the 5–8 °C range, depending on the altitude. Almost daily thunderstorms develop on these mountains during summer, rarely being snow thunderstorms. The mountains are almost completely covered in forests to a height of about 1500 m amsl, where grass, heather and various berries predominate. Two main towns are located in the valleys between the Apennine mountains:Bedonia andBorgotaro, historically in control of commercial traffic through the passes toLiguria (Passo del Tomarlo,Passo della Cisa, Passo del Brattello, Passo del Bocco and others).
Parma is famous for itsprosciutto di Parma. The whole area is renowned for itssalami production (particularly the well knownsalame Felino), as well as for theParmesan cheese and some kinds of pasta likegnocchi di patate,cappelletti (oranolini) inbrodo (a kind of roundtortelli stuffed with a filling made of stewed donkey, Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, cooked and served in hot broth),tortelli with different stuffing (erbetta, potatoes, pumpkin, mushrooms, chestnuts,tortél dóls di Colorno) andchicche.
The province is crossed by the Milan-Bologna railroad, one of the most important in Italy, with a station in Parma. The latter is the starting point for the following lines, connecting the city to theTyrrhenian Sea,Alps and thePo River delta:
Parma FC was founded in 1913. It is aSerie Bfootball club renowned in Italy and Europe for its successes including three national cups, aEuropean Cup Winner's Cup, two UEFA Cups, a European Supercup and an Italian Supercup. It plays in the city's stadeEnnio Tardini which used to host up to 29,000 spectators but is being renovated in 2008 after the club was demoted to Serie B. In spring 2009 the team was promoted again in the top league (Serie A).Crociati Noceto play inLega Pro Seconda Divisione, the fourth tier.[citation needed]
According to the CGIA of Mestre, in 2021 the province of Parma had the highest annual gross salaries for the private sector employees, after Milan.[4][5]
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