Santa Croce, Catholic church in Oltretorrente district, Parma, Italy.

Santa Croce is a Romanesque and Baroque church on piazzale Santa Croce in the Oltretorrente district of Parma. The 1635-1666 works raised the nave and added a presbytery, a dome and a large chapel on the south side dedicated to Saint Joseph. The first three bays were demolished and the facade set back, shortening the building; Romanesque capitals on the nave piers survive.

The church was built in the early 12th century beside a station on the Via Francigena, the route from Parma to the Cisa Pass and Rome. Bishop Grazia consecrated it on 21 August 1222, as an inscription now lost recorded. Iorio da Erba modified it in 1415; between 1635 and 1666 the Confraternity of St Joseph raised the nave, built the presbytery and dome, added the south chapel, demolished the first three bays and moved the facade back.

The name Santa Croce refers to the Holy Cross. In the counterfacade, a fragment of a fresco with the Madonna and Child is the object of particular popular devotion. The nave ceiling is frescoed with episodes of the Infancy of Jesus and the Life of St Joseph by Giovanni Maria Conti della Camera, with assistants Francesco Reti and Antonio Lombardi.

The church maintains regular opening hours for religious services and visits, located directly on Via Emilia in the Oltretorrente district. Access may be limited during Mass times, so planning your visit accordingly is helpful.

The altar features wooden polychrome statues of the Holy Family carved by the artist Angelo Fontana in the 17th century. Flanking these figures are sculptures of Saints Apollonia and Lucia, which reinforce the devotional focus of the space.