Montecatini Terme, Province of Pistoia, Tuscany Region, Italy

🇮🇹 Montecatini Terme is an Italian municipality (comune) in the province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is the most important centre in Valdinievole. The town is located at the eastern end of Piana di Lucca and has a strong vocation for tourism, as well as industrial and commercial industries related to the spa, which in turn has increased the interest for hotel accommodation in the region.

In 2021, the town became part of the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name "Great Spa Towns of Europe", because of its famous mineral springs and its architecture exemplifying the popularity of spa resorts in Europe during the 18th through 20th centuries.

History The presence of humans in the area of Montecatini is very old. Probably from Paleolithic times the region was frequented by itinerant hunters, but only from the Mesolithic period is there evidence of numerous settlements, especially in the hills of the Valdievole. Records of the thermal springs in the region date at least as far back as the Romans.

Twentieth century On 16 June 1905 Montecatini Alto and Bagni di Montecatini became autonomous municipal entities. On 28 October 1928 the name of the Bagni di Montecatini was changed to Montecatini Terme. In 1928 the municipality of Montecatini, together with all the other municipalities of the Valdinievole, passed from the province of Lucca to the newly formed province of Pistoia. Between 1904 and 1915 the Torretta and Excelsior establishments were born. Giovannozzi restored the Leopoldine and Tettuccio baths between 1919 and 1928. Mussolini also went to the establishments to see how the funds given by the State for their restoration had been spent and entrusted their administration to Schweiger. In 1958 the State reappropriated the baths, symbolizing a second phase with the reconstruction of the Redi and Excelsior baths. Montecatini in those years was frequented by important persons; nobility and people from the worlds of entertainment and politics. In 1970 the baths remained open all year, but from that moment on there has been a slow decline until today, when the fashion for visiting the spa has clearly diminished. Efforts to relaunch the baths began in the 1990s and the City succeeded in doing this in 2000. The emblem of the municipality is regulated by the Royal Decree of 12 August 1908. It is a truncated shield: the first version is of Montecatini which is blue and mounted on six small Italian hills, supporting two gold lions surrounded by an oval silver shield laden with a red lily, facing each other and holding a red basin; in the second version everything is handled in silver and blue. The motto, also present in the coat of arms and in the banner states: «Salus» (Latin: Health).

Mineral springs There are 11 thermal springs in the area around Montecatini Terme, with temperatures ranging from 24 to 33.4 degrees C. Of those, six have been used their supposed therapeutic qualities. These springs all come from the same source: an aquifer fed by meteoric waters roughly 60–80 meters below ground level. These waters get their minerals from being in contact with Triassic-period strata of calcareous stone, travertine, jasper and limestone.