| Montecatini Terme | ||
 | ||
| State | Italy | |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Tuscany | |
| Altitude | 29 m a.s.l. | |
| Surface | 17.55 km² | |
| Inhabitants | 21.374 (2010) | |
| Name inhabitants | montecatinesi | |
| Prefix tel | 39 0572 | |
| POSTAL CODE | 51100 | |
| Time zone | UTC 1 | |
| Patron | Santa Barbara (December 4) | |
Position
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| Institutional website | ||
Montecatini Terme is a citizen of the Tuscany, located in the province of Pistoia. Defined as a garden city due to the presence of large public and thermal parks, it is known throughout the world for the particularity of its thermal waters with mainly laxative and anti-cholesterol effects. It is also known for the particular beauty of its Art Nouveau and Neoclassical spas, also decorated by Galileo Chini.
To know
Geographical notes
Montecatini Terme is located in Tuscany in the center of Valdinievole, a side valley of the lower Valdarno, in the Province of Pistoia southwest, bordering the provinces of Lucca and of Florence.
The area, since the Middle Ages, has been described as swampy in the story of the passage of Hannibal di Tito Livio, and as an important thermal center.Montecatini is in fact located in an area of volcanic origin and its history is closely linked to that of its waters , rich in precious mineral elements that still confirm their undisputed fame in the national territory.
The thermal waters represent the real great wealth of the city, giving it a dimension of sacredness that the ancient Romans associated with the places where the springs of health flowed, which provided men with the means to alleviate their diseases.
Background
There is no certain data about the origin of Montecatini Terme, but archaeological finds of Roman origin have been found next to the crater of the Leopoldine baths, which suggest that the presence of man in the area of present-day Montecatini Terme is very ancient.
Probably since the Paleolithic the region was frequented by itinerant hunters, but it is only from the Mesolithic that numerous settlements are well witnessed, especially in the hilly area of the Valdinievole.
The existence of Montecatini Castello, today's Montecatini Alto, is already documented in the Middle Ages as a spa center by a document of 1340 which refers to the extraction of salt from the waters. 1201, but the official history of the thermal baths of Montecatini begins when the illustrious doctor and scholar Ugolino Simoni da Montecatini, considered the father of modern hydrology, examines in one of his writings (De Balneorum Italiae Proprietatibus ac Virtutibus of 1417) the nature of the waters minerals and speaks for the first time of a bath in which the peasants immersed themselves to treat pains in the limbs and back and of a second bath used to treat scabies.
How to orient yourself
Montecatini Terme: full screen map.How to get
By plane
There are no airports in Montecatini, but it is possible to rely on those of the city of Florence which is about 40 km and to that of Pisa which is about 60 km. From both airports to the city there are paid shuttles, in addition to public transport (train and bus) or taxis.
By car
The city has its own motorway exit on the Firenze Mare, in the city almost all the car parks in the center are paid and access is not always allowed as it is a limited traffic area (ZTL) whose entry is allowed depending on timetable.
The city of Montecatini Terme does not overlook the sea and the rivers that cross it are torrential and therefore not navigable.
On the train
The city is connected to the Tuscan regional railway system with two different stations, the smallest is called "Montecatini centro" as it opens directly into the city center and the other, larger and equipped with parking, is called Montecatini Terme /Monsummano Terme as it is located on the border with another municipal.
By bus
Local Public Transport is provided by Blubus and offers daily connections between Montecatini Terme and Valdinievole. Timetables and prices are available on the website.
How to get around
By public transport
By funicular
It is possible to move from Montecatini Terme to Montecatini Alto with the funicular historical since 1898. The ticket for the single journey costs € 4, for A / R € 7 (2019).
By taxi
There are three Taxi cooperatives in Montecatini Terme:
- Radiotaxi, ☎ 39 0572 72262.
- Taxi Cooperative, ☎ 39 0572 71352.
- Taxi, ☎ 39 02 5353.
On foot
The historic center of Montecatini can be easily explored on foot.
What see
- 1 Terme Tettuccio, Piazzale Giusti. One of the most famous spas of Montecatini Terme, so named for the presence of a canopy that covered the first source. The water flows into the plant from various sources called Rinfresco, Leopoldina, Regina and Tettuccio and characterized by various mineral and curative properties suitable for treating diseases such as constipation, diabetes, high cholesterol, uric acid, lipid and carbohydrate metabolisms, liver, stomach and intestinal disorders.
- Thermal Park, viale Giuseppe Verdi.
- 2 Montecatini Alto (reachable by funicular). Fraction of the municipality of Montecatini Terme which in ancient times was called Montecatini Val di Nievole and was the capital of an autonomous municipality until 1940, when the municipality of Montecatini Val di Nievole was definitively suppressed and its territory divided between those of Montecatini Terme, becoming a single municipality.
- Maona cave, ☎ 39 0572 030104, @[email protected].
€ 7.00 Adults, € 5.00 children up to 12 years. Limestone cave located near Montecatini Terme on the road leading to Montecatini Alto. The cavity was called "Grotta Maona", keeping faith with the toponym that for about a millennium had identified those places. In 1892 tourist accompaniments began. The cave can be visited all year round on set days and times. - 3 Tamerici Pavilion (1902), Viale Verdi 45,47,49. Art Nouveau and floral style building built in 1902 "for the storage and sale of the salts of the Tamerici". Rich in bas-reliefs inspired by the working of ceramics representing the artist, the pot turner, the decorator and the furnace. This small pavilion "for the storage and sale of the salts of the Tamerici" is already mentioned in the guide of C. Fedeli, The waters and baths of Montecatini, testifying to the appreciation immediately met with the dominant taste.
- Verdi Theater, Via Giuseppe Verdi 45. The Verdi Theater was designed between 1828 and 1829 by the architect Lodovico Fortini as a large open-air theater in the amusement park owned by the "Società delle Nuove Terme" and inaugurated in 1930 with Giuseppe Verdi's Aida. The theater has hosted opera and cinema shows over the years. In 1981 it was extensively renovated.
- Town Hall, Viale Verdi, 71. The Palazzo del Comune of Montecatini Terme, built in 1914, has many decorations inside, mostly made by the firm Alessandro Del Soldato.
- Montecatini Terme-Monsummano railway station. The Montecatini Terme-Monsummano railway station, active since 1853, is located in a building inaugurated on 4 August 1937 based on a project by the architect Angiolo Mazzoni.
- Terme Hotel Excelsior, Via Verdi, 61. The building of the thermal baths of the Hotel Excelsior, initially created to house the Municipal Casino, was inaugurated on June 27, 1907 and was designed by Giulio Bernardini. On 28 March 1915 it was decided to use a part of the building as a spa and in 1968 this first structure was demolished to be rebuilt according to a design by Sergio Brusa Pasquè in the Florentine Renaissance style.
- Piazza del Popolo. Piazza dell'800 that until the second postwar was called Piazza Umberto I. The square was repaved in 2015 and closed to traffic. At its center there is a monumental fountain by the sculptor Antonio Guidotti, inaugurated in the 1930s. Previously there were lodges under which mercantile activities were carried out. The church of Santa Maria Assunta, the first large hotel in Montecatini Terme, the Locanda Maggiore and the first 19th-century Montecatini bar / club, now called Bar Biondi, overlook the square.
€ 7.00 Adults, € 5.00 children up to 12 years. Limestone cave located near Montecatini Terme on the road leading to Montecatini Alto. The cavity was called "Grotta Maona", keeping faith with the toponym that for about a millennium had identified those places. In 1892 tourist accompaniments began. The cave can be visited all year round on set days and times.Events and parties
- Food & Book (month of October), @[email protected]. Festival of the book and gastronomic culture which takes place every year in October. The festival includes numerous events, many of which are free and also suitable for families with children, such as book presentations, dinners with Chefs, tastings, workshops, tasting tables.
- Montecatini birthday (June 29). An evening of celebration, joy, toasts, greetings and good music to celebrate the birthday of the city of Montecatini with open shops, free concerts and themed events. The event was conceived in 2011 by the artistic director Matteo Del Rosso, from a "bipartisan" idea of Bruno Ialuna and Andrea Quaranta and, since then, every year, a theme has been established to celebrate the city.
- Open Week (two Easter weekends), @[email protected]. free. Two consecutive weekends, in the week of Easter and the following one, during which it is possible to visit museums and monuments of Montecatini Terme and Valdinievole through extraordinary openings and guided tours. It is a new form of tourist event in the name of panoramas, curiosities, historical places and legends, in this area of Tuscany enclosed between the lands of Leonardo da Vinci and the Pinocchio Park in Collodi.
- Spring Trophy (April), ☎ 39 0434 876724, @[email protected]. International festival for school choirs which takes place every year in Montecatini Terme in April.
- Summer Queen (June), c / o Terme Tettuccio - Viale Verdi, 71, @[email protected]. free. Montecatini Terme music festival. The festival takes place in the Sala Regina of the Tettuccio spa and includes numerous chamber, vocal and solo concerts free of charge for tourists. The hall can accommodate up to 250 spectators and has very good acoustics and is especially suited to the romantic repertoire.
- International Tournament City of Montecatini Terme - Memorial Daniele Mariotti (Easter weekend), ☎ 39 0572 773540, @[email protected].
Easter weekend. Youth football event organized in collaboration with the FIGC. - Montecatini International Short Film Festival (October), via Felice Cavallotti, 66, @[email protected]. Montecatini International Short Film Festival is one of the oldest film festivals inItaly, born in 1949, over the years has hosted artists and films from more than 50 countries around the world.
Easter weekend. Youth football event organized in collaboration with the FIGC.What to do
- Tettuccio thermal establishment, Domenico Giusti square, @[email protected]. The Tettuccio thermal baths establishment, known as "Bagno Nuovo" since the 14th century, is one of the most famous thermal establishments in Montecatini Terme. The water flows into the plant from various sources called Rinfresco, Leopoldina, Regina and Tettuccio and characterized by various mineral and curative properties suitable for treating diseases such as constipation, diabetes, high cholesterol, uric acid, lipid and carbohydrate metabolisms, liver, stomach and intestinal disorders. At Terme Tettuccio there is also the hydropinic treatment, the therapy that involves the use of thermal water as a drink.
- Get on the historic funicular to Montecatini Alto, Viale A. Diaz, 22, ☎ 39 0572 766862, @[email protected]. € 7.00 round trip, € 4.00 one way, € 4.00 reduced return, € 2.00 reduced one way, € 5.50 group return. Historic funicular since 1898 which with two red wagons connects Montecatini Terme to Montecatini Alto. Designed by a Genoese engineer, Mr. Alessandro Ferretti at the end of the 19th century.
- Trekking and biking routes from Montecatini to Grotta Maona, Via Vecchia di Maona 23, ☎ 39 327 7571582, @[email protected]. Adults € 7.00; Children 3-12 years € 5.00. In the hills around Montecatini, trekking or biking trails are recommended until you reach Grotta Maona, a limestone cave located near Montecatini Terme on the road that leads to Montecatini Alto. The cavity was called "Grotta Maona", keeping faith with the toponym that for about a millennium had identified those places. In 1892 tourist accompaniments began. The cave can be visited all year round on set days and times.
Shopping
How to have fun
Shows
- 1 Verdi Theater, Viale Verdi, 45, ☎ 39 0572 78903.
- Imperial Cinema Theater, Piazza D 'Azeglio, 5, ☎ 39 0572 78510, fax: 39 0572 903854.
- Excelsior Cinema, Via Alessandro Manzoni, 2, ☎ 39 0572 904289.
Where to eat
Taste the Montecatini waffle. The Montecatini waffle is a confectionery specialty typical of the town of Montecatini Terme, born in the first half of the twentieth century. It is a delicious, unique, light and nutritious wafer biscuit made with type 00 soft wheat flour, sugar, whole milk, fresh eggs and stuffed with Apulian almonds. The waffles are traditionally eaten for breakfast or as an accompaniment to ice cream, tea, hot chocolate and fortified wines such as the traditional vin santo.
Average prices
- The black sheep, Via S. Martino, 18, ☎ 39 0572 70331. Gourmet restaurant of the Hotel Ercolini e Savi with Tuscan dishes, artisan desserts and about 120 labels. Elegant atmosphere and medium-high prices.
Where stay
Average prices
- Hotel Ercolini and Savi, Via S. Martino, 18, ☎ 39 0572 70331, @[email protected]. 4 star hotel located in the center of Montecatini. It offers Classic and Superior rooms with breakfast or half board in the hotel restaurant. It is located 400 meters from the station, 100 meters from Corso Matteotti, the shopping street, and a 3-minute walk from the Verdi Theater and the Thermal Baths. Free fast Wi-Fi. Also equipped with a gourmet restaurant La Pecora Nera, next to the hotel.
- Grand Hotel Panoramic, Viale Mario Bustichini, 65, ☎ 39 0572 78381, @[email protected]. 4-star hotel suitable for couples and families, with rooms and suites surrounded by a private park, a 10-minute walk from the center of Montecatini. It offers a free outdoor pool and a small outdoor spa area for a fee. Buffet breakfast included in the price, half board restaurant on request, free Wi-Fi. Meeting spaces available.
High prices
- Grand Hotel Francia & Quirinale (former Hotel de France), Viale IV Novembre, 77, ☎ 39 0572 70271, @[email protected]. Since 1908 it has been an institution in Montecatini Terme, thanks also to its Liberty style which also inspired the Terme Tettuccio. The hotel offers free Wi-Fi, large swimming pool, restaurant, buffet breakfast, meeting tours, excursions, cooking classes, agreements with spas, parking, transfer service and car rental.
Safety
How to keep in touch
Internet
Free navigation is possible in many squares and meeting places via the network "Pistoia WiFi". With the same credentials it is also possible to surf the other WiFi networks of the administrations that have joined the national network Free ItaliaWifi[link not working].
Around
Other projects
Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Montecatini Terme
Commons contains images or other files on Montecatini Terme
