The thermal baths of Viterbo: from social thermalism to recent revitalization projects in wellness tourism

Abstract

This article analyzes an aspect of the history of the Italian spa sector, which has received less attention so far in the literature: the rise and the decline of so-called social thermalism. Since the interwar years, and to a greater extent during the second half of the twentieth century, the Italian State created a new model of development in the spa industry. This model was outside the market logic and based on thermal bath therapies paid by State social insurances for a large number of workers and pensioners. Subsequently, the cost of these spa treatments became unsustainable. Therefore, at the end of the twentieth century, the State contribution for workers’ spa therapies was dramatically reduced and the spa industry was forced to tackle the emergence of a severe economic crisis.

After providing a general overview, the present essay studies the development and the decline of Italian social thermalism through a particular case study, the thermal baths of Viterbo. The history of this spa is analyzed using unpublished archival sources, but it is also framed in the present –day context, on the basis of recent surveys conducted by local institutions, with the aim of finding a way to revitalize the tourism flow through a new combination of hydrotherapy and wellness.