TYPE: • Culture
• Theater CURRENT USE: • auditorium HISTORICAL USE: • Eridania sugar refinery LEGAL STATUS: • private property of Town of Parma PLAN AND CONSTRUCTION 1999 - 2001• Renzo Piano |
The Niccolò Paganini Auditorium has sprung up on the site of the old Eridiana sugar factory, which was built in 1899 and fell out of use in 1968. The construction forms part of a plan to revitalise an urban landscape which since the early decades of the 1900s has contained prominent companies from the territory of Emilia, such as the Agricultural Union, the Public Slaughter-house and the Barilla pasta factory, not to mention the Gasometer and the Tramway Station.
The hall of the Auditorium contains 780 seats, spaces for the dressing rooms, cloakrooms, offices, refreshment area, entrance hall and technical services area. One of the peculiarities of the auditorium is that it features large panels of glass in the two short walls that were left after the demolition of the two ends of the original building; this allows the surrounding grounds to “enter” the building itself. 
The toilets and rehearsal rooms are situated together at the eastern end of the building. The technology for the installations relating to the acoustics - a fundamental aspect of the structure – was the subject of specific design projects, such as: the insertion, between the main beams, of a false ceiling which reflects and absorbs the acoustic energy of the hall, or the way in which special panels, also made of glass, and which have the same reflecting and absorbing qualities, have been built into the windows, in order to guarantee the best possible musical result.
How to get there: By car: Take the A1 Milan-Bologna motorway, suggested exit Parma (not Parma East). On the right, take the via S. Leonardo, then on the left turn into the Tangenziale Nord, then turn right along via Venezia; after that, left onto via I. Cocconi and left again onto via P. Strobel and straight on until you reach viale Toscana 5/A. The Paganini Auditorium has free parking for 400 vehicles
By train: from the station go straight on along Via Monte Altissimo, right into Via Trento, left into Via A. Fratti, continue through P.le Allende, continue down Via F. Tanara until you reach V.le R. Barilla
Public opening hours: Visits to the interior require obligatory prior booking
Useful information: Telephone: 0521/039302 oppure 0 Fax: 0521/206156
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