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Montecatini and its Walf of Fame
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The amenity of the places, the benefits of its waters and the wealth of leisure options have immediately attracted a type of spa tourism to Montecatini dotted with important figures and famous people.
It is impossible to talk about everyone in this or in any other context. Hence the choice to mention a few and leave it to the curiosity of the "reader" to discover the illustrious personalities - royals, politicians and sports champions, doctors, scientists, poets, musicians, singers, writers, directors, actors, stylists, stars and goddesses of cinema, television, music and entertainment, intellectuals, artists .... - who have come to Montecatini over the centuries
And if this is possible, it is thanks to "Passi di Gloria" a project inspired by the Hollywood Walk of Fame with which the city has chosen to pay homage to many of these celebrities through the installation of small brass studs, each of which recalls the name and year of their first visit to the city.
A journey that entertains and amazes .... discovering that Montecatini has passed ....
... Dante Alighieri, the "Great" among Poets, who tradition, supported by several biographers, wants in 1315 near the "Castle" of Montecatini awaiting the outcome of the dispute between the Guelphs of Florence and the Anjou of Naples against the Ghibellines of Pisa and Lucca led by Uguccione della Faggiuola and Castruccio Castracani, a battle on which depended the last hope of returning to his city for the rest of his life.
... Galileo Chini is the artist, among the many, most significantly present in Montecatini. He stayed in the city on several occasions not for reasons of treatment but for work. And the city still shines with his work in many of the most important buildings such as the Padiglione dei Sali and the Grand Hotel & La Pace, the Terme Tamerici and the Palazzo Comunale so much so that it can be defined as a jewel of the early twentieth century.
… Giuseppe Verdi who from 1882 no longer stopped coming to the Bagni in the summer and staying at La Locanda Maggiore until the year 1900 which marked his last stay in the small city of waters. The villes d’eaux had exerted an attraction on the composer since his youth. In case of ailments or stress, the spa resorts had the power to regenerate him. However, it is at the Bagni di Montecatini that Verdi found the perfect atmosphere to alleviate his hypochondria due to the advance of the years and for new stimuli. The small spa is a stage where for decades the protagonists of social, cultural, political life, Italian and beyond, have moved at ease. Its hospitality and the effectiveness of its waters will make the Maestro feel at home right away. Here the Swan of Busseto would retreat to regain his inspiration, to meet his friends Arrigo Boito and Giulio Ricordi, to compose the music of very important pages of his production such as the third act of Otello and the orchestration of Falstaff. It is no coincidence that his personal objects, the piano on which he composed the music of Otello day by day in July 1886 and many other testimonies such as photographs and autographed documents, are preserved at the Scalabrino Art Academy of Montecatini, today the Vivalbanca Foundation, and that the current Grand Hotel Plaza, once the Locanda Maggiore, displays a plaque dedicated to him in the main hall: «For many summers up until the year 1900, this was the grateful home of Giuseppe Verdi. When, almost tired of glory, he sought among the green of the fields and the splendor of the sky the serene quiet of the spirit that he always placed before all the noise of triumph" and that, finally, in Montecatini Alto a small marble plaque placed on the road that leads to the main entrance of Villa la Moresca which belonged to Pietro Grocco, a friend of Verdi, recalls the presence of the Maestro who, looking out from the windows of the house, used to exclaim: "Here are the most splendid panoramas that I have ever seen!"
…. Christian Dior … He is one of the protagonists of high fashion, the city's most devoted visitor. Montecatini was his golden refuge, his little island of gentle luxury. He used to stay at the Grand Hotel & La Pace. Room 302 was the stylist's usual room. The hotel staff was now accustomed to having the balcony adorned with the roses he loved so much. And it was in that very room that the French Maestro died, at the age of just 52, on the night between 23 and 24 October 1957, struck down by a sudden illness. Not long had passed since his maison had catalysed more than half of the French couture exports in the world, reaching the record of the time, and Time had just made him the first French designer on its cover. On the catwalk, he had recently shown the fuseau collection, conceived together with the young assistant Yves Saint Laurent, and Dior was on holiday in the spa town to spend a period of rest and complete his imminent new collection. According to the newspapers of the time, Dior went to the spa in the morning, then in the afternoon he walked in the park. It seems that the evening before his death he had stopped to play canasta with some French friends. The news. The sudden death of the fashion genius bounced on all the magazines, newspapers, and magazines of the time. "Dior died suddenly last night - we read in the summary of the Corriere della Sera the following day - the arbiter of fashion was on holiday in Montecatini. He had spent a peaceful evening". The Pucci family, former owners of the hotel, renovated that room a few years ago, making it the Dior Suite.
…. Pelè …. It was 1991 and “O Rey” was the FIFA ambassador for the fourth edition of the Under 17 World Cup. This coveted competition was supposed to be held in Ecuador but the cholera epidemic that hit the South American country forced the organization to take refuge in Tuscany. The stadiums of Florence, Viareggio, Massa, Carrara, Livorno and Montecatini hosted the matches. Pelè arrived in the spa town to attend the opening match: Italy vs. United States. The Brazilian champion arrived on the eve of Ferragosto and was greeted by a huge crowd. With great patience Pelè did not shy away from the fans’ embrace and signed hundreds of autographs and took dozens of photos with his admirers. In the evening he accepted Sesana’s invitation and went to award the winner of the “Città di Montecatini” grand prize, won by Miss Baltic. The next day, on a very hot day, Pelé kicked off the Mundialito in a packed stadium. Before the whistle, the great footballer wanted to shake hands with all the athletes introduced by their respective captains. The unforgettable champion left a simple dedication in the town hall's honor book, as he was and as Montecatini Terme remembers him, "Many thanks friend", signed Pelé and dedicated to the Mayor.
… Sofia Loren … She didn’t come to Montecatini many times but when she did she amazed everyone. The actress came to Montecatini in 1955 for the Incontri con il cinema (in the photo by Rosellini on the cover of a magazine from a few years ago), together with Vittorio De Sica. It was De Sica who made Loren win the Oscar, in 1962, as the protagonist of the film La Ciociara, based on the novel by Alberto Moravia. That was the first time that an Italian actor received the prestigious statuette, especially as an interpreter of a film in Italian. Loren was elegant and beautiful, a diva on a par with the Hollywood stars who frequented the spa in those years. The actress has not been to Montecatini since 1984, when the director Maurizio Ponzi, director of Francesco Nuti’s films, shot some scenes of Qualcosa di biondo there, where, alongside the actress, her son, Edoardo Ponti, also acted.
… Vittorio De Sica … In the mid-1930s he was certainly one of the most eagerly awaited actors by the tourist audiences who frequented the city's theaters. In those years, Montecatini could count on luxury billboards in its theaters: the companies of Totò, Petrolini, and Gilberto Govi would come here. And De Sica was courted for his professional qualities but also for his elegance and his beauty, a Cary Grant of Italian cinema. When he went to the spas he was greeted by two rows of admirers. In 1939 he took part in the performance of "Two Dozen Scarlet Roses". The show, created for charity, was held at the Trianon, then called Adriano, on November 17, 1939, with the collaboration of the "Filodrammatici di Montecatini". Vittorio de Sica and his second wife Maria Mercader, Christian's mother, lived in Montecatini for about a year in a villa on Viale 4 Novembre in the area of the current Croce di Malta in the immediate post-war period, and the artist returned to Montecatini on several occasions: in 1955 he met with Truman Capote, who had edited the English dialogues for the film Stazione Termini. Then, he returned again with Sofia Loren for the Incontri con il cinema, inaugurating the special wagon-lit trains, which in the 1960s directly connected Rome with Montecatini.
… Gualtiero Marchesi … The icon of Italian cuisine was the protagonist of the 2016 edition, the 4th, of Food and Book, the annual event that combines food and culture through freshly printed books, gala dinners, meetings and tastings. The presence of the international chef was the highlight of the event, sealed by his meeting with students from Tuscan hotel management schools and the exhibition held in the Palazzo Comunale and dedicated to his recently released book Opere/Works, published by Cinquesensi.
…. September 1949, a couple passes between two wings of people and enters the Terme Tettuccio; she has a scarf around her neck, a white shirt and pearl earrings, he has Havana trousers and a sports sweater. They pass the salt waters, say goodbye and leave for the Torretta where they are staying. They are the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson as they appear in an official film from the British archive. They will often return on holiday there because, they say, the place is unconventional.
It is impossible not to remember Grace Kelly who spent her honeymoon here with Ranieri di Monaco, Farah Diba, Audrey Hepburn while Madame Curie chose Montecatini for her medical experiments, Katharine Hepburn to kiss Spencer Tracy on the Maona hill. And also Charles of England, George Clooney …..
There are more than 200 “studs” that commemorate the famous people who came to Montecatini, names that we list below in alphabetical order, inviting you to immerse yourself in that journey through time and fame that connects the central Piazza del Popolo to the Tettuccio, the Spa that is the symbol of the city.
Of course, the studs do not show all the illustrious personalities who have visited the spa town or all the figures who have contributed to decreeing its fame.
Of course, the studs do not show all the illustrious personalities who have visited the spa town or all the figures who have contributed to decreeing its fame.
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