Exploring the Tuscan town of Montecatini Terme
You don’t know it at the time, but some of the most life-changing moments can occur when you least expect it.
Take the northern Tuscan town of Montecatini Terme … I had never heard of it until we were scheduled to stay and perform there as part of Sunshine Coast Oriana Choir’s 2019 tour of Italy.
One of the great spa towns of Europe, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of its famous mineral springs and its architecture. This exemplified the popularity of spa resorts in Europe during the 18th through 20th centuries.
Yet Montecatini probably dates back to the Old Stone Age of 10,000-12,000 years ago. Records of the thermal springs in the region date at least as far back as the Romans.
Records show that the healing benefits of the spas were known in the 1300s.
It’s where we are headed as part of the Sunshine Coast Oriana Choir’s 2019 performance tour of Italy.
The first performance was to sing mass at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City, within Rome. One of the largest in the world and with a dome that is a feature of the city’s skyline.
Now, after lunch and walking tours at Arezzo (Bus 1) and Orvieto (Bus 2) it is a matter of heading north through rich alluvial plains of grasslands for the dairy industry, corn and crops such as sunflowers. There’s engineering and manufacturing, then orchards, old farmhouses along with the new.
You wonder just what this landscape has witnessed through the years, from Hannibal of Carthage to the powerful Medici family. It was the Habsburgs – Francesco of Lorraine and Maria Teresa of Austria who were founders of the spa town in the 1770s, by starting the draining of marshlands and the channeling of the thermo-mineral waters.
It’s into this town that we travel along the autobahn, catching glimpses of the rooflines and the mountain ranges in the fading sunlight.
The Albergo Paradiso Montecatini Terme is to be home for four nights, and three regional performances before heading to the coastline. Even the name Hotel Paradiso sounds like we are in a television series.
Dinner is in the split-level dining room and there is a real buzz of excitement and wonder at both the table settings and the meals on offer.
On a tour such as this people switch seats in the coach and then again at the breakfast, lunch or dinner tables as a way of getting a better understanding of their backgrounds, passions and hopes for the future.
A choir by its very being attracts a wide variety of members from all walks of life – not just ranked by what section they sing in – be it bass, tenor, alto or soprano.
There are those from on the land, from nursing, teaching, those with a legal background, with a financial background, artists and musicians. Those who specialise in medicine and research, university students and lecturers, those still in high school and not yet 20 or those aged around 20 short of 100.
Over wine and aperitifs new friendships are made and plans discussed for the coming days. Not just the performance the next night at San Miniato but what points of interest to look for on walking tours.
There’s a relaxed feel to the hotel yet also a formality developed over time, with the waiters well dressed and polished in their service yet happy to engage in conversation with these singers from across the other side of the world.
You wake and at breakfast in the dining room you look out of the window. There it is – Tuscany.
It’s like you have stepped into pages of a book or a scene of a movie … the architecture, the light, the colour, the parks. The people.
You really are in the heart of Tuscany. Mountains rise up from the plains and stretch away into the distance, to the south and west.
There’s time for a quick walk around the town centre before we leave by coach for a walking tour of Florence. In the evening the choir will be joining with Coro Balducci to perform in their cathedral in their mountaintop town of San Miniato.
There’s an artistic feel to Montecatini. The Teatro Verdi, museum of contemporary art, the cinema, the spa baths … and the Excelsior where we perform the following night.
The culture and the buildings are so different to Rome yet in a relatively short distance … about four hours by coach.
The town is so different in early morning. When we arrived last night about 5pm, it was windy, overcast and with rush-hour traffic.
This morning’s early light was such a fresh face.
The parks, the gracious buildings – mostly from another era. There’s a beautiful rose garden … even a carousel, complete with tigers and seals, giraffes and horses. Wild black stallions galloping, untamed.
The Excelsior is exceptional. A mix of art nouveau and neoclassicism.
Move over Sound of Music with your summer house. This building is evocative of the former golden era.
Marble floor, French doors looking over the rose garden, and with a carousel beyond that.
In a striking juxtaposition, the multi-use building combines health and wellness with the presentations of concerts – everything from a jazz band to a choir.
The Excelsior is one of the best-known thermal establishments of Montecatini Terme, and one of the most changed.
It opened in 1907, not as a spa but as the town’s municipal casino. It was not until 1915 that part of it was turned over to thermal cures.
The building today is largely a 1968 reconstruction to reflect the significance of Montecatini … with a modern edge
Inside, the ornate coffered ceiling of the original 1907 hall survives, together with mosaic stained glass and ornamental patterns.
Surrounding the whole building are wide avenues lined with glorious trees – a tribute to Montecatini’s glorious history.
Then there are sprawling parklands to warm the heart and caress the soul.
leavearly 