Ciociaria's Spas

FIUGGI'S SPA

Although known since the times of Pliny, the earliest records about the therapeutic use of |Fiuggi's waters are kept in the Vatican City archives and date from the Middle Ages. They tell the story of a notable patient, namely pope Boniface VIII, who benefited from the healing power of these waters, together with Michelangelo who recovered from renal calculosis.

Fiuggi's thermal complex stands at the foot of the town, set against oak, chestnuts and pine woods. It is made of two hydrothermal springs: Boniface VIII's spring and Anticolana spring. The former was built at the beginning of the 20^th century in elegant liberty style, yet today only its captivating doorway is left. It is the favourite place for the morning treatment, that is the therapy that must be made on an empty stomach.

The Anticolana spring, known also as the 'New Spring', because it was inaugurated in the 1920s, is where people go in the afternoon. Enjoying a scenic setting, it offers its guests realxing walking along the gardens and the paths of its large park, provided with tennis and bowls courses, mini-golf, ping-pong, children playgrounds and a leisure hall.

Here there is also the Springs' Theatre, a stage that every year plays host to important music shows, cultural events, as well as extremely prestigious happenings.

Fiuggi is an important spa resort as well as a suitable site for national and international meetings, thanks to the presence of appropriate structures. In addition, there is an elegant wellness centre, inside the town's most prestigious hotel, which appeals to many well-known personalities of the show business that spend relaxing holidays in Fiuggi.

Of interest, both artistically and culturally, is the old town. Along the captivating lanes it is possible to admire elegant old buildings, churches, as well as the Town Hall Palace and the Town's Theatre. The latter stages every year a host of theatre events of high cultural interest. Besides being a centre of attraction, both for thermal and congress tourism, Fiuggi can appeal also to golf tourism. The golf course of Fiuggi Golf Club offers a play field of 18 holes at an altitude of 621m set against a natural park that overlooks the countryside, full of climbs, slopes and holes, where every year renowned national and international contents take place.

The peculiar typology of this course requires from the players greater physical and technical efforts as requested by other Italian golf courses, yet it is also suitable for those wishing to play golf only for pleasure.

POMPEO'S SPA FERENTINO

Pompeo's Spa, set within a century-old park, is encircled by a landscape where everything speaks about history. The sulphur-calcium bicarbonate waters are renowned since Roman times. To Domitilla, a native of Ferentino, wife of Vespasian and mother of the emperors Titus and Domitian, is attributed the building of these ancient thermal baths. In 1854, the Pompeos established the first thermal centre of modern times and in the last decades they have boosted their activity by building a new, modern centre with a structure for thermal treatments, as well as an elegant residence hotel, a wellness centre and a functional meeting hall.

The water of Pompeo's spa provide an appropriate treatment for a whole range of disorders, from respiratory illnesses (pharingitis, rhinitis, bronchitis, etc.), ear, nose and throat disorders (tubal catarrh) to the artro-rheumatic disorders, the peripheral vascular diseases (arthrosis, articular rheumatisms, circulatory diorders) and skin affections.

VARRONIANE SPA CASSINO

Within the county of Cssino, close to the railway station, are located the Varroniane Spa, surrounded by a lush vegetation and adjoined to a notable archaeological site, as evidence to the passage in the past of eminent people such as Marcus Terenzio Varro, Cicero and Marcus Anthony.

The waters, low in mineral content, of this mineral water complex provide effective treatments for the cure of renal calculosis and gout, thanks to its diuretic effect.

It is also appropriate in the treatment of functional gastroduodenal dyspepsia deriving from liver disorders. The thermal complex is also provided with equipped areas that can be used for picnicking and leisure activities.

Texts and photos courtesy of A.P.T. di Frosinone