A Jacobite Gazetteer - Italy

Parma

The city of Parma is located about ninety kilometres north-west of Bologna. It is on the main road from France into Italy.

King James III and VIII first visited the city in March 1717. ¹ He returned in June 1728, accompanied by his seven-year old son Charles Edward (later King Charles III). ² In May 1737 Charles Edward returned by himself. ³

Basilica della Madonna della Steccata

In the crypt of the Basilica della Madonna della Steccata can be seen the wedding gift sent by Pope Pius VII to Princess Maria Teresa (daughter of King Victor and younger sister of Queen Mary III and II) and her husband Charles Louis, later Duke Charles II of Parma: a reliquary containing fragments of the true cross and the rock of Golgotha and one of the thorns from the crown of thorns.

In the Museo del Ordine Constantiniano attached to the church can be seen an oil portrait of Duke Charles II of Parma, as well as a dress of Queen Marie Clotilde of Sardinia (wife of King Charles IV).

Galleria Nazionale di Parma

The National Gallery contains a bust of Princess Maria Teresa, daughter of King Victor and younger sister of Queen Mary III and II. The bust was sculpted by Lorenzo Bartolini in 1825 together with a matching bust of Maria Teresa's husband, later Duke Charles II of Parma, which is now in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. ⁴ In 1939 Emilio Casadio made three terracotta copies of the bust; one of these is now at the Castello di Racconigi.

Princess Maria Teresa

Next to the bust of Princess Maria Teresa can be seen a bust of her husband, Duke Charles II of Parma when he was still Duke of Lucca. The bust was sculpted by William Theed III in Rome in 1840. ⁵

Duke Charles II of Parma

Museo Glauco-Lombardi

The Museo-Glauco Lombardi is dedicated to the memory of the Empress Marie Louise (wife of Napoleon Bonaparte) who ruled Parma from 1814 to 1847. Among the items on display is a letter written to the Empress Marie Louise by Queen Adelgunde, wife of King Francis I. The letter was written in 1849 and records the death of Francis and Adelgunde's only child Princess Anna Beatrice.

Notes

¹ Calendar of Stuart Papers, Historical Manuscripts Commission (London: 1910), IV, 113.

² Frank McLynn, Charles Edward Stuart: A Tragedy in Many Acts (London: Routledge, 1988), 27.

³ McLynn, 51.

⁴ Lorenzo Bartolini was born in Savignano di Prato in 1777 and died in Florence in 1850. The bust measures 50 cm high by 28 cm wide by 25 cm deep. Cf. Lucia Fornari Schianchi, Gallerian Nazionale di Parma: Catalogo delle opere, L'Otto e il Novecento (Milano: Franco Maria Ricci, 2001), 8-9.

⁵ William Theed III was born in Trentham, Staffordshire, in 1804 and died in London in 1891. The bust measures 78 cm high by 59 cm wide by 35 cm deep. Cf. Schianchi, 11.

Image 1 (Princess Maria Teresa): Schianchi, 9.

Image 2 (Duke Charles II of Lucca): Schianchi, 11.