A small group of us came to Parma for the Verdi Fetival. We loved the location, and the cordiality and helpfullness of the desk personnel was as good as any we have experienced in more than fifty trips to Europe.

We stayed at the Hotel Torino for two nights, having arrived by rail from Florence. I would guess it dates back to the mi-1970s and has clearly had various makeovers, but despite some of the complaints from other reviewers, I think it is OK. It is a three-star hotel, and measures up to that classification perfectly well. We had a room on the third floor, looking out over the street. Yes, it was a bit tired, but the things that mattered all worked: a comfortable bed with clean linen, and the room itself was spotlessly clean. The hotel is also clearly very green - energy-saving bulbs are everywhere, and it has a special 'doccia light' system which makes the best use of the energy used to heat the water. Bottles of water - natural and fizzy - could be bought for one euro from a vending machine on the second floor (make sure you don't book the room next to that, or you'll be constantly disturbed by the sound of bottles thudding out of it all the time). Staff were all very friendly and helpful. As other reviewers have said, the breakfast area is quite small, and the breakfast itself underwhelming - but only in that normal European way. Europeans, especially the Italians, simply don't 'do' breakfast, and this was certainly no worse than other comparable three star hotels I have stayed in. We knew what to expect, and frankly the friendliness of the staff, the reasonable room rate for a tourist destination, and the hotel's superb location in the heart of the city make it well worth staying in. I would certainly go there again.

When I reserved a room at the Torino four months ahead of our stay, I was promised a large, bright room, but when we arrived we found ourselves in a minuscule, dark, quite shabby room. When I complained, the clerk acknowledged that it was very small, but could not offer anything larger. What he did do in compensation, however, was to offer us at no cost the use of a single room across the hall! And it did turn out useful to have space to put our luggage and a second bathroom, even though we had to commute! The bathroom in our double room was about four feet square, in other words, on the same tiny scale as the bedroom. Upon looking at the map of the floor posted on the door, I realized that the hotel has taken a whole bunch of single rooms and recycled them as doubles. The parking facilities, a garage under the hotel, were fine. And the location is unbeatable--close to the major tourist attractions. The breakast room is quite small, and the first morning when we went down, it was totally filled up. The clerk at the desk was not sympathetic and basically told us to cool our heels, which we did. Fortunately it didn't take too long for a table to open up. The courtyard, which apparently they use as a spillover, was under construction and unusable. Breakfast OK although the rolls tasted like yesterday's. The WiFi connection in room was fine. The hotel clerk brought our car up for us when it was time to leave, a nice gesture at the end of a disappointing stay at the Torino.

The location is absolutely perfect, even if getting a car to the hotel is an experience. The desk was amazing at getting the car down into the garage. In fact, the people at the front desk were pretty much amazing about everything. The breakfast crew, on the other hand, were rarely friendly, a little like the breakfast itself.
The hotel is also a little tired and in need of repair. The terrace was closed, the AC mediocre, and the furnishings worn.
I might stay there again because of the location, but I'd go there with lower expectations.