Parma’s Certosa monastery was the location where Fabrizio del Dongo, a noble from Milan, then a soldier, a Monsignor, then a lover, a prisoner over and over again, and likewise a fugitive, decided to retreat to the end of his days.
The citadel mentioned by the author of “The Red and the Black” exists, in reality, only on the pages of Stendhal’s book and the fantasy of its readers.
Nobody can know if it was the Valserena Abbey – now hosting a museum dedicated to art, fashion, photography, and other media from the 1900s – or the Certosa – now hosting the Police Academy – or even Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, that has inspired the writer, who regardless certainly fell in love with Parma and dedicated one of his masterpieces to her. Always double-check your sources…
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