Montecatini Terme: Unesco Heritage City Guide

Montecatini Terme, a Unesco World Heritage site since 2021 in Valdinievole, Pistoia province, is known for its thermal baths initiated by Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany in 1772. The city features Liberty-style architecture, cinemas like Cinema Excelsior (designed by Ugo Giovannozzi) and Cinema Imperiale (by Pier Luigi Nervi, 1926), and theaters such as Teatro Verdi, Teatro dei Risorti, and Complesso di Kursaal. Museums include Mo.C.A. – Montecatini Contemporary Art (opened 2012 in Palazzo Comunale, with works by Joan Miró, Claraz, Orfeo Tamburi, Umberto Buscioni, Sergio Scatizzi, Marco Lodola) and Museo di Arte e Arredi Sacri (in Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo, housing a 16th-century cabinet with reliquary of Santa Barbara). Notable fountains and sculptures include Fontana dell'airone (1925 by Raffaello Romanelli), Fontana Monumentale, Fontana dei Coccodrilli, Fontana Mazzoni, Fontana delle Naiadi, Scultura d'Acqua (by Pol Bury, installed 2004, formerly at Guggenheim New York), Airone Rosso, Duetto d'Acqua (by Susumu Shingu), and a statue of Giacomo Puccini by Aidyn Zeinalov. Historic villas include Villino Grocco (1902, hosted Giuseppe Verdi), Villino Parenti (1911 by Giulio Bernardini), and Villino Scalabrino (by Bernardini, later expanded by Pietro Porcinai). The city served as a film set for Oci ciornie (1987), Dove vai in vacanza? (1978), and Camping (1957).