Castello di Felino hosts conferences, meetings, product launches, gala dinners, team building and weddings, from a banquet of 35 in the Sala delle Armi to receptions across the Corte d'Onore and the whole second floor. The castle stands on a terrace above the woods at Felino, in the hills near Parma in Emilia-Romagna, and guests enter over a former drawbridge.
Seminars and company events
The castle sells strategic meetings, congresses, product launches, business dinners, gala evenings and workshops. The Sala Sforza on the first floor, reached through a foyer, has large windows, daylight and a fireplace, and is used for meetings, congresses and banquets. The Sala delle Armi seats 35 theatre style or at a banquet, 30 in a classroom layout and 20 around a horseshoe. A projection screen and a flipchart are available, and the in-house team handles furniture, audio and video, IT, Wi-Fi, reception staff, hostesses and the cloakroom. An event manager and the chef plan coffee breaks, brunches, lunches and dinners, and the team can design the concept and décor of the day.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings use the indoor halls or the outdoor courtyards. The castle offers a symbolic ceremony in the garden or in a historic hall. Menus range from buffets to plated lunches and dinners built on local produce, with live cooking and wedding cakes made with outside pastry chefs. Suites at the castle let the couple get ready and stay on after the reception. The castle also hosts birthdays, anniversaries, First Communions and Confirmations.
Rooms and capacities
On the ground floor, the long Sala delle Armi, with its central table and silver candelabra, takes up to 35. The Sala du Tillot and La Guardiola are small rooms for private, candlelit dinners, and the two Sale della Moiana, named after a bell cast in 1652, overlook the Corte d'Onore. On the first floor, the Loggiato Pallavicino runs around three sides of the courtyard and suits aperitifs, buffets and exhibitions, next to the Sala Sforza and the two Sale Vescovi, which look over the woods and the courtyard. The Salone dei Rossi fills the second floor with a foyer, the Salone Basso, the Salone Alto and the Mastio, whose glazed panorama room is used for the fireworks that often close an event. Outside, the Corte d'Onore holds summer receptions and dancing by torchlight, and the garden beyond the walls, shaded by chestnut trees, is used for arrivals and aperitifs. Capacities for the larger rooms are given on request.
Accommodation
The castle has two suites, intended mainly for couples. For groups, the P.I.U. Hotels group offers more than 100 rooms in central Parma, in a Novotel and five residences.
Catering
Catering is by Bstrò, with buffets or served dinners adapted to the company or the couple, and with the castle's event manager and chef planning each service.
History and setting
The Sforza family held the castle for about half a century until the mid-1400s. In 1454 Pier Maria Rossi had the Oratorio di San Pietro rebuilt, with its fresco of the Madonna del Pettirosso. In the 18th century the French minister Du Tillot, who governed for the Duchy of Parma and held the title of Marquis of Felino, lived here and promoted the local salame di Felino. The Sala delle Armi takes its name from the armor and weapons once stored there.
Getting there
Felino lies in the hills south of Parma. Parma station and Parma Airport are the nearest rail and air links.
