Solange Berchemin reviews the lovely NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina in Turin, the home of Fiat.
One of Turin’s finest hotels, NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina offers stylish rooms with views, private balconies, and sleek bathrooms. Breakfast is served under the lemon trees in the courtyard and striking cinematic photographs dot the corridors. In your room you’ll find ‘Gianduiotti’ waiting, on your pillow, they are dainty chocolates made in heaven or rather hand-made locally, Turin is ‘the city of chocolate’, after all. As we’re talking ‘pillows’, the NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina offers an á la carte pillows menu to cover your sleeping style.
NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina is located in the historic centre of Turin on Piazza Carlo Emanuele II, it was built in the 17th century to house poor children of the neighbourhood. Despite its turbulent history and thanks to two brothers who rescued it from dilapidation, the building retained its original features. They are best visible in the central courtyard and the galleries.
Throughout the hotel, the old marries the new with gusto. Modern glass walls and sun-lounging galleries with lovely views over the city are not out of place next to the mosaicked and hardwood floors. To my mind, NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina’s best charming features stem from the austerity of the building living in perfect harmony with the flamboyant artful creations added by the new owners. This is almost palpable as soon as you step in. The 17th-century features in the reception hall are illuminated by the most intricate Murano chandelier designed by architect Frederuci De Giuli.
Turin is the city that put the T in FIAT, ‘Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino’ was founded by the Agnelli family. If the most important auto manufacturer in Italy did wonders for the town economy, it has deterred tourism, a real shame since this city is incredibly vibrant and beautiful; But for the time being Turin still lives mostly off its industries, when we arrived the hotel was buzzing with business people. Riccardo Sottile, the Front Office Manager, pointed out that each returning guest has their room ready the way they liked it, before their arrival ‘And, that is a 5* service for a 4* hotel’ he told me proudly. But what do they all return to?
Eight types of rooms some face the magnificent courtyard and others have views of the Mole Antonelliana, the town’s best-known landmark, nowadays home to the National Museum of Cinema. The seventh art took its baby steps in Turin, one of the capitals of the film industry in the early 1900s. The hotel’s 160 rooms are arranged over five floors, they range from standard rooms, lovely in their cream, rose and natural colour scheme to presidential via XL spaces with communicating doors, for families.
The loft suite might not be to everyone’s taste but it appealed to me. It oozes Italian elegance, in fact, they all do, this suite is a double-decked room with a mezzanine and beautiful views of the Piazza. In the Presidential Suite, you’ll find a slopped beamed ceiling. The Superior singles and doubles have little carved trees standing on the headboard, this is the kind of details that stick to mind and make memories and is another reason for people to return to this hotel.
Take a stroll along the nearby river Po and an Aperitivo at Tre Galline, one of Turin typical trattorie, a stone’s throw away from the hotel. Whilst Piazza Carlo Emanuele II offers a wide choice of restaurants, if you’d like a walk and a night cap head for Del Cambio on Piazza Carignano, the city’s most famous and probably most expensive restaurant is situated on a beautiful square bearing the same name, surrounded by Baroque buildings.
Take a seat and ponder over all the celebrities who have entered this institution the likes of Casanova, Balza, Verdi, Maria Callas and Audrey Hepburn to name but a few. They all knew something that the majority ignored, Turin is a tourist destination, this city is architecturally, culturally and politically interesting and attractive. NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina encompasses it all, fine architecture, style, chocolate, and even the 7 th art has its place.
Tell Me More About The NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina
The Nh Collection Torino Piazza Carlina, Piazza Carlo Emanuele II, 15, 10123 Torino TO, Italy.
T:+39 011 860 1611 E: nhcollectionpiazzacarlina@nh-hotels.com
NH Collection Torino Piazza Carlina, double rooms start from €149 per night including breakfast.
How to get there: Turin is a transport hub easily reachable by air, BA, EasyJet and Ryanair fly non-stop. The train station is very central for longer trips to the south of Italy and/or throughout mainland Europe.
