Chianciano Terme, which is famous for its spas, museums and hospitality, is relaunching its image by enhancing and promoting not just its world-famous mineral springs and spas, but the town itself and its appealing environs. The objective, shared by local tourism players, is to promote a new concept of thermal wellness, a paradigm shift between the past and a vision projected towards the future.
This was the theme of the first Programme Conference on Tourism held at the end of October, with Chianciano Terme hosting the main Italian associations and federations together with leading tour operators and industry players. An important occasion for Chianciano Terme, thanks to Massimo Caputi, president of Gruppo Terme Italia (the new owner of Terme di Chianciano) and the town’s mayor Andrea Marchetti with the support of regional councillor for tourism Leonardo Marras and Francesco Tapinassi, director of Toscana Promozione.
A fascinating Etruscan museum
With its rich historical and cultural heritage Chianciano Terme is home to one of Italy’s most beautiful Etruscan museums. The Archaeological Museum of Chianciano Terme is a real gem, and a must-see for anyone visiting the renowned spa resort. The museum recounting the Etruscan civilization, is housed in an old granary dating back to the early 19th century and is spread over four floors.
The Etruscans left little written evidence
"The museum opened in 1997,- explains Roberto Betti, president of the Geo-Archaeological Association, - following a long period of work by our local volunteers. Everything there was found and restored by the volunteers, the aim being to show through the objects and the context who the Etruscans were, as this mysterious people left little written evidence of their civilization.”
A gallery of sacred 13th-19th century Art
The excavations began is 1986, uncovering a 7th-century B.C. princely tomb that has been reconstructed in the museum’s first room. The tour through the reconstructed Etruscan tombs in the underground cellar is very suggestive, displaying many grave goods and mysterious human-shaped cinerary vessels, called canopic jars. Another important collection, the Museo della Collegiata, reopened last June in collaboration between the Diocese and the Proloco of Chianciano. In the 18th-century Palazzo dell'Arcipretura, the museum houses is a gallery of sacred 13th-19th century art.
Hotel Villa Ricci has a new holistic centre
Tradition, hospitality and innovation are the key ingredients of the historic Hotel Villa Ricci which opened in 1958. "My grandmother Elide started with a guesthouse, welcoming the first tourists. Today we have 90 rooms and have made many investments, inaugurating a 250-seat conference hall in 2006, and in 2008 the Holistic Wellness Centre, which was further enhanced in 2011.""We have clients who return year in year out, and we continue to introduce new products like the Holistic Centre.” Villa Ricci’s La Coccola restaurant is also popular with non-resident guests and on the menu has a wide choice of traditional and farm-to-fork Tuscan specialties.
