This monumental building is found in the centre of Parma a very short distance from the cathedral square, Piazza Duomo; the former Benedictine convent of San Paolo was founded in 1005 replacing a temple which dated back to the age of Sigifredo II - 985 A.D.From that time before the convent was built, an interesting artefact remains which was restored and is kept in the premises belonging to the Circolo Amps: a small chapel whose architecture reminds us of the origins which were pre-Romanesque. The convent reached its maximum splendour in the 15th and 16th centuries when Abbesses Cecilia Bergonzi and Giovanna da Piacenza ruled there. The former had the new convent built as planned by Giorgio da Erba; the latter had the frescoes painted in the rooms by Araldi (Cella di S. Caterina, which can be visited by asking the National Gallery) and by Correggio (Camera di San Paolo). In the following centuries a series of architects and engineers were involved in the building of new parts of the  convent, including Smeraldo Smeraldi and Giovan Battista Magnani who built the western part of the monastery.On the corner of Via Cavour and Via Melloni we can still find a church which now houses temporary exhibitions, and a bell tower. The church was designed by Antonio Bettoli and built in 1785 while the bell tower, which was turned into a monument commemorating the war dead, was designed by Mario Monguidi.