Flanders and Parma have strong historical connections. Margaret of Parma and her son Alexander Farnese were important political and cultural actors in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This topic, together with Parma’s status as Italian Capital of Culture 2020-21, formed the starting point for an interdisciplinary conference on 26-27 May in the Parmesan Monastero di San Paolo.

The conference is part of the project The Court of the Farnese in Parma and Flanders in which the Alamire Foundation, in cooperation with the Flemish Representation in Italy, also organizes a lecture-performance and concerts in Leuven, Antwerp, Parma, and New York.

After a first performance during the Voices of Passion festival, the ensemble Ratas del viejo Mundo brought the music of, among others, Cipriano de Rore, Margaret’s court composer, to life in the beautiful Basilica di Santa Maria della Steccata where various members of the Farnese family found their last resting place in Parma.