PLUTO is a modular and multi-purpose numerical code for astrophysical fluid dynamics targeting highly supersonic and magnetized flows. As astrophysical applications are becoming increasingly demanding in terms of grid resolution and I/O, efforts have been spent to overcome the main bottlenecks of the code mainly related to an obsolete and no longer maintained library providing parallel functionality. Successful achievements have been pursued in The Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe First Implementation Phase Project (PRACE-1IP) and are described in the present white-paper. Project ID: PRPC04