Grand Hotel Salsomaggiore

Grand Hotel Salsomaggiore has no golf course, but it declares three services for guests travelling with clubs: an equipped storage room for golf equipment, a dedicated shoe-changing area and special agreements with Salsomaggiore Golf Club.

The club, at Case Carancini, has 18 holes designed by Carlo Quintelli in 1992 on undulating terrain of 70 hectares, with three lakes in play on five holes. It was renovated in 2018: driving range with 15 stations, carts, equipment rental, pro shop, putting, pitching and chipping greens, clubhouse with locker rooms and bar. Two instructors teach individual and group lessons.

The hotel places the area in the Golf of the Duchy circuit, which its website says brings together seven courses, one for each day of the week. Those it names include La Rocca at Sala Baganza, Parma Golf & Country Club at Vigatto, Castell'Arquato and Matilde di Canossa. The clubs are independent of the hotel.

In 1902 Anselmo Ferrario built the Grand Hotel Centrale Bagni in pure Art Nouveau style. Its best-known idea was a glass walkway linking the hotel to the Terme Dalla Rosa, so guests reached their treatments without stepping outside. In 1926 the building grew with a four-storey L-shaped wing and a large events hall; in 1932 the company SAGAS created an internal thermal department, making it, the hotel says, the first true hotel with a spa in Salsomaggiore.

From 1950 to 2010 it hosted the Miss Italia finals for over forty years. The 2012 redevelopment, led by architect Patrizia Poli, added the fourth floor, two pools, a thermal area, a panoramic solarium and a large covered car park; after five years of work the hotel reopened in 2017.

Rooms range from the Double Room Single Use through Classic Double and Twin, Superior, Junior Suites (including a French version) and Suites to the Royal Suite with hydromassage. The hotel belongs to the Cosmopolitan Hotels group.

The spa has a glass-roofed pool that opens to the Salsomaggiore sky and a circuit with a circular thermal-water station, a salt-water pool and freshwater whirlpool, a Kneipp path, Turkish bath, Finnish sauna at 90°, biosauna at 60°, emotional showers, an ice waterfall, a bucket shower, a Himalayan salt room and a herbal-tea area.

The panoramic solarium has an outdoor jacuzzi with heated water; the gym, inside the wellness centre, is open 7am to 9pm. Children aged 3 to 14 have a reserved slot in the thermal pool from 10am to 12.30pm.

The hotel's restaurants serve Emilian and international cooking under frescoed ceilings. I Due Leoni offers an à la carte menu that the hotel describes as midway between contemporary research and local roots; Berzieri, on the ground floor, has light rooms and modern furnishings. The rustic-style Historical Wine Cellar hosts tasting dinners, while the Lounge Bar, open to non-guests, has a historic hall and an outdoor terrace.

The hotel welcomes dogs, has coworking spaces, a billiards room, cots, high chairs, children's menus and babysitting on request. The covered garage costs 20 euros a day (reservation required), the outdoor car park 10 euros.

• D'Annunzio in the Zanardelli Suite. The hotel recalls Gabriele D'Annunzio among its historic guests, staying in the Zanardelli Suite.
• The father of thermalism. In 1839 Dr Lorenzo Berzieri recognised the properties of the salt-bromo-iodine waters: the hotel's Berzieri restaurant bears the same name.
• A glass walkway. It linked the Grand Hotel to the Terme Dalla Rosa in 1902.
• The first hotel with a spa. The internal thermal department of 1932 was, according to the hotel, the first in Salsomaggiore.