The name comes from a fence. On a house wall in this street there was a Madonna painted in fresco which the people of Parma began to venerate; to control the crowd of pilgrims a wooden fence was put around it, and from that the Virgin came to be called della Steccata. In 1521 it was decided to build a real church around her, and the work went on until 1539.
What to see
The church is a Greek cross with a great dome, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who was in Parma for fortification work. But the piece people come for is the arch above the chancel, frescoed by Parmigianino with the wise and the foolish virgins, elongated figures walking within gilded frames: it is his most important work left in Parma.
The story behind that painting is a famous case: the painter took the commission, took the money, and for years did not finish; the confraternity sued him and had him put in prison, he fled Parma and never came back. The church also holds the tombs of the dukes of Parma, and since the eighteenth century the building has been the seat of the Constantinian Order of Saint George.
Visiting
The basilica is in strada Garibaldi, right in the centre, two minutes from piazza Garibaldi; free entry, closed at midday and during services. Half an hour. In the adjoining seat there is also a museum of the Order, with a separate ticket.
Our editors' tip
Stand under Parmigianino's arch and look at the figures foreshortened, from below: they were calculated to be seen from there, and the stretched proportions that look odd in reproductions become natural from that spot. Then consider that the man who painted them ended up in jail for finishing them too late.