Montecatini Terme - Tuscany - I Like Italy

MONTECATINI

The town of Montecatini split into two areas.
The ancient one, on the higher part of the hill, was originally an ancient roman castle, and it was the seat of the municipality until 1905.

At the time was builded an aqueduct for the thermal water, so in few years the thermal bats of Montecatini, in the lower part of the city became more famous and more important of the castle, the old town, now called "Montecatini Alto" (high Montecatini).

The Church of San Pietro Apostolo, designed by Antonio Zannoni, is a splendid roman-style church of the old town.

And not far from the church we can find the ancient ruins of the wall of the "Old Castle".

Still in the old town, we can find the "Teatro dei Risorti" that is seat in the main square of Montecatini Alto, the hub of all the main streets of the town. The perfect place where to sip a good espresso, surrounded by the main historical buildings of Montecatini Alto.

Close to the main square there is a strange clock tower, that signs just six hours of the day. Beside the tower there is the church of "Santi Jacopo e Filippo", re-builded in 1764 in baroque style, covering the previous roman-style church.

Not far from the town there is the "convento di Santa Maria a Ripa", where live nuns of Benedictine order.

Montecatini Terme, the lower and the newest part of the town, has not ancient buildings, in fact it is marked by nice modern buildings, mainly in liberty style with iron and glass.

From the main squadre, to the actual seat of the municipality (1920).

And going on Viale Verdi, with the Excelsior, builded at the beginning of the last century as a casinò and a theatre, and now (after the restoration of 1915) one of the main thermal baths of the town.

After Viale Verdi, we can find the big "Stabilimento Tettuccio", a real thermal city with parks, café, theatre and shops.

For our usual "journey of the tastes", today we'll discover a typical sweet of Montecatini, the "Cialda".
A very narrow number of confectioners produces this speciality since '20s.

The sweet is a sort of disc of 2mms and 20cm of diameter. It's crunchy and similar to the wafers, with almonds and sugar.

The "Cialde" are usually consumed with ice creams, the, hot chocolate, dessert wines (like Vin Santo) and they are usually appreciated by children.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Tuscany
• Montecatini
• Italy
• I Lke Italy