La Corte del Mulino

The owners were very helpful and even arranged a pizza delivery for us. We booked this as a stopover on our drive from the UK to Rome, and it worked for what we needed, though the place seems better suited to people looking for a temporary base in the area. I'd asked for a ground floor room because I'm recovering from hip surgery, but there was a problem with that room, so we were given the upper apartment instead. The layout was unusual, with the main bedroom at one end of a corridor, a locked door that I assume led to another bedroom, and the bathroom and kitchen at the other end. The kitchen and living area were well equipped, but the seating was three single beds pushed together and wasn't comfortable. The main bed was big enough and fairly comfortable. There were Juliet balconies in both the bedroom and the kitchen-living room. The local main road toward Parma has quite a bit of heavy traffic, though we barely noticed it from our room. I'd recommend the place.

Really lovely place!

The place has potential and is charming and well located, but we were disappointed by the cleanliness and upkeep. We booked through Booking.com for one night for six adults and a child. The detailed email instructions made entry easy, with the gate code and directions to the keys, though check-in felt like a little treasure hunt. We found one bed missing and two beds without sheets, and there weren't towels for two people. The owner said the apartment was for six, even though Booking.com let us book and pay for seven. She did send someone to bring the missing sheets and towels. Cleaning was poor: stained sheets, cobwebs across the ceilings, a dirty toilet, and a razor blade cap on the sink. The toilet brush holder was unsanitary, so we wiped down the fixtures with disinfectant wipes. Dust along the tile edges suggested it hadn't been cleaned for a while. We also found sticky door handles and dirty coffee cups, despite a €30 cleaning fee being required to use the kitchen. The kitchen chair was stained and looked beyond cleaning, even with the best products. There was no drinking water, and only five complimentary coffee pods for our six adults. Some basic amenities were missing, and the beds weren't good. Given the hygiene issues, we can't recommend it right now, though we hope the owners improve the maintenance and cleanliness. Maybe we caught it in a bad spell, as other reviews mention cleanliness too. What a shame, because it could be a perfect stopover.

The outside of the property is well kept, there's parking on site, and the location is convenient. We booked the B&B for a short trip with friends to the November Pork Chop Festival, after reading reviews that made it sound like a good choice. But a vacation should be a chance to relax, and the apartments need to meet basic standards for comfort and cleanliness. We asked for two double rooms and found only one. In the other room, we had to push the two single beds together, even though a headboard was there for that setup. The rooms weren't properly cleaned, with dusty skirting boards, cobwebs, and dirty walls. All the armchairs were stained. The pillows were hard, old, dirty, and stained, and the mattresses were stained too and had become less comfortable. We woke with a severe headache, though thankfully we were only there one day. The bathroom had old taps covered in limescale, which I think could be a breeding ground for Legionella. The coffee machine's water tank was dirty with algae residue. The managers should renovate and pay attention to basic cleanliness. They should also consider these issues carefully if they want to keep offering hotel services that match the prices they charge.