On a recent holiday in Italy I was reminded of the traditional place in European culture of thermal springs and spas and the age-old custom of "taking the waters". I had not gone to Italy for that purpose and had always associated European spas with forested Alpine settings such as St Moritz in Switzerland, Evian-les-Bains in France or Badgastein in Austria - or Spa in eastern Belgium, which gave its name to all such resorts. So it came as a surprise to find that the Siena region, which suffers from a dearth of rivers, is nevertheless richly endowed with spas and thermal springs, around which has evolved a thriving tourist and recreational industry.
Chianciano Terme, in the heart of Tuscany in the municipality of Siena, is one such spa. This resort, which featured in Fellini's film 8-1/2, is almost a metaphor for Italy's fusion of cultures ancient and modern, pagan and Christian. At the time of the Etruscans (5th century BC), after whom Tuscany is named, Chianciano's trinity of springs - Santa, Fucoli and Sillene - were venerated and a temple dedicated to their "healthful waters" was located near their source.
Roman past
The centre's archaeological museum testifies to the resort's Roman past with a collection of artefacts from nearby ruins, while records show that the Augustan poet Horace (65-8BC) visited the springs on the advice of his doctor. The Collegiate Museum carries an interesting collection of local Christian art and sacred objects from the 14th century. Christian pilgrims through the ages also availed themselves of the spa's amenities.
But while much is made of Chianchiano's ancient and legendary past, the resort is anxious to project itself as a modern spa. There is, for example, a Dietetics Centre where programmes for healthy eating are prescribed and a Centre for Aesthetic Medicine where dermatological problems are treated. For true believers in the cult of beauty there is also a range of cosmetics based on the unique properties found in the Sillene spring. With its temperature of 38.5 degrees C, this spring is ideal for either water or mud baths, while the water from the Santa spring, with its high content of bicarbonate, sulphate and calcium, is recommended for liver disorders and the prevention of osteoporosis. The water from the Fucoli spring is recommended for its digestive and healing properties.
However, despite the resort's modern makeover and its Fellini connections, the tourist in search of la dolce vita may be disappointed, for the spa's most loyal patrons are Europe's older bourgeois citizens who enjoy the medically supervised baths and the afternoon dances in the park. The positive aspect of this is the area's relaxed community atmosphere and air of decorum and the sensibly priced restaurants, fashion boutiques and entertainments, including theatre, cultural and sporting events.
Moderate prices
The moderate prices are welcomed by those who use the resort as a base for visiting nearby centres of medieval and renaissance history, or for trips to Rome, Florence or Assisi. Italian pensioners, for whom the state provides free 12-day health breaks, and industrial workers, for whom the spa's therapeutic treatments are subsidised, also appreciate the resort's keen rates.
While boosting the local economy, the state-subsidised health breaks also help to distinguish Chianciano from spa resorts with more elitist connotations. For example Spa, situated in the wooded hills of the northern Ardennes and mentioned by Pliny the Elder, acquired an exclusive status in the 18th century when it was visited by European royalty. And Bath, whose foundation is attributed to Bladud, the father of King Lear (863 BC) and which was first developed by the Romans, became in the 18th century a fashionable resort for the aristocracy and people of leisure.
Yet even at the height of its elegance, Bath was becoming the subject of criticism, the most damaging of which appeared in the popular novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771). Here the politically disaffected writer Tobias Smollett satirised Bath as an example of all he hated in mid-18th century England, which he saw as a land dominated by false or superficial values. In Smollett's view, love of luxury was responsible for the spiralling inflation which was affecting the country, and one of the novel's characters cites the case of decent families who have settled in Bath, but "the madness of the times has made the place too hot for them and they are now obliged to think of other migrations...Bath is become a mere sink of profligacy and extortion."
Health hazard
However, Smollett had to concede that Bath had its moments of levity and there was fun to be had in the irony that while the town was being developed for the leisured classes, namely the aristocracy, the resort attracted anyone who could afford the expense, so that in a class-ridden society it was impossible to keep the classes apart. And there was further irony in the fact that while the baths were considered health-enhancing, the truth was that they were a health hazard as "the patients in the Pump-room were swallowing the scourings of the bathers".
Thankfully, most spa resorts today have cleaned up their acts and face the future under medical supervision with a clean bill of health. And with the healthy state of its economy and thriving tourist industry, Chianciano Terme's is set to perpetuate the age-old European tradition of "taking the waters".