Sala Baganza is placed south of Parma along the Strada del Prosciutto, being one of its main production centres.
The history of Sala Baganza is marked by the passage of important families of local history. From the Sanvitale to the Farnese, the Bourbons and the beloved Duchess Maria Luigia of Habsburg have enriched this territory.
The Rocca Sanvitale, which dominates the town square, belonged to the Sanvitale family from the 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century, when it passed to the Farnese family. From 1676 it served as a holiday resort for the guests of the Collegio dei Nobili. Inside, the Hercules room was frescoed by Orazio Samacchini to whom the Cabinet of the Caesars is also attributed. The eighteenth-century part of the castle, privately owned, located on the east side of the noble floor, is frescoed by Sebastiano Galeotti; in other rooms there are landscapes and grotesques by Cesare Baglione. The sixteenth-century part is owned by the Municipality of Sala Baganza. The tour includes the sixteenth-century rooms and the Oratory of the Assumption.
The Rocca hosts the permanent exhibition of the sculptor Jucci Ugolotti entitled Sacroprofano and the Wine Museum, which is part of the circuit of the Food Museums.
The Parish church of Talignano, dedicated to San Biagio, is located on the top of a hill surrounded by vegetation, about 1 km from the Parco dei Boschi di Carrega. The small building dates back to 1200 and there are records of it starting from 1230. Originally the parish depended on the Cistercian monastery of Rocchetta, on the slopes of Monte Prinzera, which was attached to a hospice for pilgrims who traveled the Via Francigena, but has since disappeared.
The food and wine is excellent as this is an area in which both PDO Parma Ham and Malvasia wine are produced and the Rocca hosts the Museum of Wine.
Every year in May Sala Baganza becomes the capital of Malvasia with tastings, guided tours, meetings, music and... the Coséta d'Or organized as part of the Malvasia Festival.
The natural surroundings are typical of the Regional Park of the Carrega Woods, where the "country house" of Duchess Maria Amalia can be admired along with the gullies of nearby Maiatico.
