Vintage Railings

Rusty volutes of iron of the terrace railing of the Acque della Salute.

A detail of the rusty but still elegant ironwork of a balcony railing of the same complex.

A view of the whole balcony reveals the precarious state of the buildings.

Search labels: spa
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway - Spa Terrace - Hall of the Five Waters - Acquarium - Salubritatem aegris corporibus - Curator acquarum - Terme del Corallo

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Terme del Corallo

Being quite tired to show you old black and white postcards or the sad reality of today's ruins, I am going to show you the “Terme del Corallo” as they really were.

Franco Gizdulich, a Florence-based architect specialized in architectural models, kindly allowed me to use these images of his model of the “Terme del Corallo”.

The original model was made for Livorno's water utility and it is probably still at its headquarters.

[Images by Franco Gizdulich]

Search labels: spa
External links: Terme “Il Corallo” – Livorno (Franco Gizdulich, Architectural models)
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway - Spa Terrace - Hall of the Five Waters - Acquarium - Salubritatem aegris corporibus - Curator acquarum

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Curator aquarum

The spa management building sits opposite the “Acquarium” and once again the architects of the complex took inspiration from Sextus Julius Frontinus for the Latin inscription on the facade: Curator aquarum.

The sorry condition of the same building last June.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

External links: Frontinus (Wikipedia) - de Aquaeductu Urbis Romae by Sestus Iulius Frontinus (in Latin)
Search labels: spa - postcard
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway - Spa Terrace - Hall of the Five Waters - Acquarium - Salubritatem aegris corporibus

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Salubritatem aegris corporibus

On the facade of the “Acquarium” we can read a Latin inscription referring to the waters available inside: salubritatem aegris corporibus afferre creduntur (are believed to bring good health to sick bodies). It is a quote from “de Aquaeductu Urbis Romae”, written by Sextus Julius Frontinus, the water commissioner (curator aquarum) for the City of Rome in A.D. 97. The TV antenna is of a later period.

External links: Frontinus (Wikipedia) - de Aquaeductu Urbis Romae by Sestus Iulius Frontinus (in Latin)
Search labels: spa
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway - Spa Terrace - Hall of the Five Waters - Acquarium

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Acquarium

The “Acquarium” was part of the east wing of the The Waters of Health complex and it is still linked to the main building by curved porticoes. Its main attraction was the Hall of the Five Waters.

The Waters of Health, a view of the “Acquarium”, June 2013

The Waters of Health, a view of the “Acquarium”, 1909

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: spa - postcard
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway - Spa Terrace - Hall of the Five Waters

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Hall of the Five Waters

Another sad comparison about how the building of the “Terme del Corallo” once was and how it is now. The “Sala delle cinque acque” (Hall of the five waters) was used to pour water from five different sources for the patrons of the spa. The names of the sources were: Sovrana, Corallo, Corzia, Preziosa and Vittoria.

The hall with the five ornate basins in a 1905 postcard

The same hall in June 2013

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: spa - postcard
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway - Spa Terrace

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Spa Terrace

The “Acque della Salute” (Waters of Health) were also known as the “Terme del Corallo” (Coral Spa) and another name was “Montecatini al Mare” or Montecatini by the Sea. The obvious meaning was that we had everything they had at the Montecatini spas, plus the sea.

The terrace featured in the old postcard is seen from outside the complex, while the recent photo was taken from the other side, from the recently opened “Parco delle Terme”.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: spa - postcard
See also: The Waters of Health - The Beauty of Decay - Parco delle Terme - The Waters of Health: Hallway
External links: Montecatini Terme (Wikipedia)

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The Waters of Health: Hallway

The recent photo and the old one show different views from opposite sides of the hallway, but I think it is still enough to get an idea of how it was then and of its current condition.

(Postcard digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: spa - postcard
See also: The Waters of Health - Theme Day: The Beauty of Decay

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Parco delle Terme

The opening ceremony for this nice park will take place this afternoon, but I was able to have a private preview last week, while our blog was still in its Pisan exile.

The “Parco delle Terme” takes its name from the “Terme del Corallo” also known as “Le Acque della Salute” (The Waters of Health), the now derelict thermal baths which were so fashionable in the early 1900's.

I am glad to see that the new playgrounds keep conforming to a more traditional style than the flamboyant one installed a few years ago in Villa Fabbricotti.

See also: The Waters of Health - New Playground - Villa Fabbricotti - Dangerous Playground
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Theme Day: The Beauty of Decay

It would be really hard to find a better local example of beauty of decay than “Le Acque della Salute” (The Waters of Health), the thermal baths that opened in 1904. The once elegant buildings lie now abandoned and only part of their gardens will be soon returned to public use as a park.

A panoramic view of the complex in 1912.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Search labels: spa - postcard
See also: The Waters of Health

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Separate Entrances

The main entrance of “Le Acque della Salute” (The Waters of Health) thermal baths.

The entrance to the working-class section of the spas.

(1905 postcards digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: spa - postcard
See also: The Waters of Health - In Presence of the King
External links: Social class - Social class in the United States (Wikipedia)

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The Waters of Health

A not-so-subtle way of alluding to the curative powers of the “Acque della Salute” (Waters of Health).A panoramic view of the thermal baths in 1912.

(Postcards digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: spa - postcard

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In Presence of the King

Doctoring official photographs to erase disgraced leaders was a common practice during the years of the Soviet Union. Well before, some resourceful Livornese of the early 1900 managed to be even more creative than that.In this old postcard the Count of Turin is visiting the renowned spa of Livorno “Acque della Salute” (Waters of Health). I don't know if the King himself was in town then, but he surely wasn't in this photo.Somebody fixed this in the second photo, crudely pasting another image of His Majesty in the middle of the existing group. Both versions of the postcard were circulated.

(Digitized from the collection of Antonio Cantelli)

Search labels: spa - postcard
External links: Count of Turin - Vittorio Emanuele III (Wikipedia)

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