Turin Palace Hotel

Since 1872 the Turin Palace Hotel has welcomed with efficiency and the highest levels of professionalism the most demanding guests - guests who know how to live and how to make choices. Its attentive and personal service, the tranquil and refined atmosphere and the skilful modernisation of the building together enable the Turin Palace to offer the most refined style of hospitality, worthy of the traditions of this northern city. The first jewel in the Turin Hotels International collection, passed down from father to son through five generations, the Turin Palace is a symbol of tradition par excellence.

The second half of the nineteenth century saw Turin preparing itself to be crowned capital of the Kingdom of Italy and along the famous via Sacchi arose a “Villa beyond the gates”. A few years later, in 1872, with the city’s new growth and the construction of the great railway junction of porta nuova, Constantino Kraft took this villa and oversaw its transformation into the hotel “Grande Albergo Torino”, a famous place for the foreign upper class on journey. Actually the trade for the India passed through Turin, which was an obliged stop of the “Compagnia dei Vagoni Letto” on the Brindisi-Lione-Paris-London line.

And on the hotel’s guest book we thus find the signatures of a Maharajah, in Turin in 1876, and of the Prince of Wales, in 1889. After the Crown Prince of Denmark in 1892, at the Grand Hotel de Turin also stayed the unfortunate Sissi, Empress Elisabeth of Austria. In the same year we find the signatures of King Leopold II of Belgium, Princess Clementine and the Duc d’Orleans. In 1904 Mr. Natale Ramondetti acquired the property of the hotel, which was closed for repairs and after a year the hotel was reopened with the addition of the word “Palace”, to distinguish it from the city’s other grand hotels.

Then the Turin Palace became more a patrician residence than a hotel, thanks to the addition of valuable works of the seventeenth century: mirrors, console tables, Chinese vases and rare watercolours in silk.

The Turin Palace attracted attention from the beginning of the Century for the construction of the ball room, the additional storey of one floor and for the careful refurbishing ended in 1987, which brought to the sight the precious woods, the silks, the marbles and the tapestry of the past. In more recent times the Turin Palace has hosted HM the King of Sweden, Carl Gustaf, who treated Piedmontese entrepreneurs to a sumptuous Swedish smorgasbord. It is currently frequented by ministers and politicians, artists, musicians, pop stars like the Rolling Stones, Sting, and Madonna, and leading entrepreneurs and industrialists from every part of the globe.

The Turin Palace Hotel’s rooms

A stay at the Turin Palace Hotel is charged with history, fascination and tradition. With its own history spanning more than a century, the Turin Palace Hotel is always at the centre of city life and events. Tastefully decorated rooms and suites greet each guest with a personalised style, always in delicate pastel shades. Elegance and care combined with the most modern comforts.

The Superior rooms are available with twin bed or a double bed. Perfect for business and leisure travellers. All rooms are very bright since none of the buildings surrounding the hotel deprives it of light. All are very quiet as they all have an entrance room, leaving two doors to isolate the bedroom from corridors and communal areas.

The bedrooms have magnetic card door locks, independent air conditioning systems, satellite TV with the main channels of the Sky bouquet, pay TV, telephone with a direct outside line and connection for a personal computer. A well-stocked mini bar and, in many rooms, a personal safe. The bathrooms are all equipped with hair dryer, bathrobes and slippers.

Wedding at the Turin Palace Hotel Celebrating a wedding at the Turin Palace is part of Turin tradition. The Sala Mollino, in particular, has long been a favourite of leading Turin families for holding engagement parties and wedding receptions. Many of the young brides of the past are the grandmothers and mothers of today’s brides-to-be. And in Turin, so fond of time-honoured customs and of things with an old-fashioned flavour, the pleasure of carrying forward a “family tradition that continues through the centuries” is manifest. The flavour of tradition is seen in the settings, in the table linen, in the refined cuisine and impeccable service.

Room service and pay laundry service By the end of October 2005 the hotel will be equipped with a Wi-Fi system (guests will be able to connect to the Internet without the use of wires). Rooms for non-smokers and the disabled are available

The Vigna Reale restaurant The Vigna Reale restaurant is a pleasant appointment not only for hotel guests but for the whole city. The dining room is decorated in warm, sunny tones and is large and luminous. Every detail of the furnishings is cared for: gleaming mirrors reflect still lifes and precious antique Chinese vases in an exclusive and refined harmony. Impeccable service, old silver, and snow-white table linen are perfectly in tune with the high-quality cuisine, creative and at the same time respectful of regional culinary values. The dessert trolley offers a tempting selection of classic delights like tiramisù, Piedmontese bonnet, Sacher torte and panna cotta, accompanied by fruit pies according to the season, fresh fruit salads and, in the summertime, luscious peaches with amaretto. An excellent wine selection, with some important regional labels deserving particular attention.

The Vigna Reale restaurant is open year round during the following hours: Buffet Breakfast: 07:00. - 10:00 Lunch: 12.30. – 14:00 Dinner: 19:30. – 22:00 Closed Saturdays and for lunch on Sundays.

The Oriental Bar The Oriental Bar, so called for the style of its furnishings, red lacquer walls, paintings on old Oriental rice paper, and its striking and authentic statue. The warm and restrained atmosphere of the bar makes it the ideal meeting place for an aperitif, a tea or a pleasant after dinner chat.

The Oriental bar is open year round during the following hours: 11.00 – 01.00.