Accommodation Recommendations: Parma and Bologna

We were pleased with our choice of a hotel in the historic center of Bologna. It was very hot while we were there and it was so easy to return to our air conditioned room to cool down.
Hotel Novocento, locally owned.

In Parma, I stayed at what is now the Pio BandB (was the red door B and B, and it still has the red door on google). You’ll have to go up stairs for the rooms and breakfast was at the top level but rooms were very comfy and it’s well located down the street to the cathedral. Can’t remember how far it was to the train station, but I was able to walk everywhere in town including to the bus station to go to a cheese place for a tour.

Some time ago we stayed in Bologna at the Starhotels Excelsior opposite the train station. The staff were wonderful, the room and bathroom were very large and they offered a huge breakfast buffet. We walked everywhere.

The Pio Rooms in Parma is about 10/15 min (by foot) from the station. I can confirm that's a great area. There are a few hotels there worth checking out (Hotel Torino, Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati, Residenza Borgo Guazzo, Mercure Parma Stendhal).

Thanks for your recommendations! We've decided to base ourselves in Bologna (for numerous reasons) but are struggling to find well-situated accommodations for the equivalent of $200 (or less) per night. No car, so location is important. Wondering if there is an event happening in Bologna the week of May 23?

All recommendations are welcome!!

When I was looking at Bologna, I found that weekdays were higher than weekend for the dates I was planning—-indicating a trade show or convention. Or some other event. In any case we liked an apartment named Residenza Ariosto by Studio Vita, at Via Marsala 11, very centrally located for walking. The one-bedroom apartment comes in just about $200 a night for three guests beds one double and one twin).

You can find it on booking.com.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/residenza-ariosto.html?hapos=1;group_children=0;group_adults=2;sr_order=popularity;matching_block_id=33125001_188466211_2_0_0;room1=A%2CA;req_children=0;srepoch=1646580315;checkin=2022-05-23;all_sr_blocks=33125001_188466211_2_0_0;dest_type=city;logged_out=1;label=New_English_EN_CAUS_5226330745-uj50W0dUEWwKN61mujXTWAS217246974627%3Apl%3Ata%3Ap1%3Ap2%3Aac%3Aap%3Aneg;srpvid=45a56c6c6173025e;sr_pri_blocks=33125001_188466211_2_0_0__88740;dest_id=-111742;checkout=2022-05-28;aid=318615;hpos=1;ucfs=1;sid=07402bc619145e9e32a2279f967b9625;type=total;sb_price_type=total;highlighted_blocks=33125001_188466211_2_0_0;req_adults=2;no_rooms=1

Wondering if there is an event happening in Bologna the week of May 23?

Starting the 25th there is the Autopromotec: https://www.autopromotec.com/it/index.php . Not one of the top fair, but quite important.