Italy to Barcelona

From Parma to Barcelona, ​​there are too many places to stay to list them all. Especially since by train you'll have at least three connections, the first in Milan, and then several possible combinations of connecting stations in France.

So you first need to determine which train route you can/want to take.

Then, whatever the route, there will be a great diversity of atmospheres and landscapes throughout southern France, from the Italian border to the Spanish border. It goes from the Lyon region in the east, then along the French Riviera, then Marseille, France's second-largest city, then Montpellier and the Camargue, ending near Perpignan, Collioure, and the Pyrenees Mountains.

Perpignan being the last major city further west from where you can take a direct train to Barcelona

How many nights is twelve days?
From Parma, take a direct train to the Milano Rogoredo station (1h 45m) and sleep near the Milano Centrale station for three nights. After your second night in Milan, take a day trip to the Varenna-Esino station (Lake Como) and hop on a ferry to Bellagio. Afterwards, go back to Varenna and walk along its path before going back to the Milano Centrale station.
From the Milano Centrale station go to the Nice-Ville station and sleep in Nice for six nights. Fly nonstop from Nice to Barcelona.

Thanks for this information. It's very helpful. We now find we'll have 14 nights so look forward to a somewhat better journey. We hope to spend a few days in south western France before flying home. Too many countries, so little time!

The capital of the southwest is Toulouse, nicknamed the Pink City, and the fourth largest city in France. So it could be a good base for a few days if you don't have a car.

It's slightly off the Italy-Barcelona route, but not too far, and is well connected by train to the entire southwest region. A visit to Toulouse requires at least three days, and from Toulouse, day trips to places like Albi and Carcassonne are the most popular. There's also Cordes-sur-Ciel, the Canal du Midi, and many others.

So, Toulouse, as a base plus day trips, can keep you quite busy for a week, or even longer if you don't like to rush.

https://www.toulouse-tourisme.com/en/

https://www.albi-tourisme.fr/en/

https://www.tourisme-carcassonne.fr/en/

https://www.visit-occitanie.com/en/discovering/unesco-classified-sites/canal-du-midi/

Before Toulouse, Montpellier and the Camargue can also be interesting.

https://www.montpellier-france.com/

Between Toulouse and Barcelona, ​​you'll find places like the very touristy Collioure.

https://www.visitcollioure.co.uk/

It's up to you to decide how you want to do it.

Jolui has the route through the mountains to Lyon and then south to Marseille.

We've been routed from Milan, Italy --> Chambéry, France using either SNCF or Trenitalia train. From Chambéry it's a local SNCF train to Valence TGV station and then a SNCF TGV across the south of Occitanie to Nîmes, Montpellier, Narbonne, Bezier, Perpignan, take your pick.

You have interesting towns to visit in Italy, in the Alps, and then along the coast starting in Nîmes. If you buy your ticket on SNCF, you'll be routed all the way on SNCF trains. But you can build your own route starting with the Trenitalia ticket from Milan to Chambéry. Trenitalia is usually less expensive than SNCF. Trainline would probably be a good place to build your route.

OR, you can take Trenitalia across the Italian coast from Milan to Ventimiglia on the border directly in 3 hours, then on to Nice via local train in 1 hour, Marseille +2 hours, Nimes +1.5 hours, Montpellier + .5 hour, etc. Those are the times from the last city, but you'll change trains in Ventimiglia, Nice, and Marseille. We've gone that way, too. You have wonderful places to stop all along the way.