The completely renovated and refurbished amenities of the New Thermal Spa, in addition to traditional cures from thermal medicine, offer different types of wellness programmes thanks to utilisation of the latest technologies.
The waters from the Acque Albule spring are sulphurous and hypothermal. They retain the name that was given to them back in ancient times due to their whitish colour (from the Latin word "albula" = whitish water), caused by the gaseous emulsion that forms on the surface when pressure decreases, releasing carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide dissolved in the water.
The waters that flow from the two lakes Regina and Colonnelle, north of via Tiburtina, reach the thermal baths in the quantity of 3,000 liters per second. The mineral water maintains a constant temperature of 23°C all year round.
Water arrives at the spa from Lakes Regina and Colonnelle, north of Via Tiburtina, at a speed of 3,000 litres per second. The mineral water maintains a constant temperature of 23°C throughout the year. Chemical analyses in the 19th century confirmed the therapeutic capacity of water at Acque Albule. We now know that sulphur is a powerful natural antibacterial ingredient with major anti-inflammatory effects.
From the earth comes the water, from the water born the soul
The carbon-sulphur springs of the Acque Albule waters, which flow from the two lakes, Regina and Colonnelle, still retain the name that was given to them back in ancient times: Acque Albule.
They were often referred to by Latin writers and celebrated for their therapeutic and medicinal virtues. Pliny the Elder reported that “the soldiers wounded in combat were led to Acque Albule as the best place for cure, from which they returned cured” (Hist. Lib XXXI, 6). Archigene, a well-renowned physician from Apamea who lived in the times of Roman Emperor Trajan, extolled the quality of the sulphurous waters, indicating how effective they were in the treatment of stomach ailments and the medication of sores and ulcers.
Virgil made reference to them in his epic poem Aeneid. Nero had their flow redirected to the Domus Aurea (his “Golden House”) via the Marcio Aqueduct, while Emperor Hadrian used them to feed the numerous pools of his sumptuous villa (Villa Adriana). Finally, Caesar Augustus, who apparently suffered from gout, drew enormous benefit from sulphurous baths, so much so that he commissioned architect M. Vipsanio Agrippa to build a sumptuous thermal baths, whose massive ruins can still be seen today. In the late Imperial period, the Thermal Baths of Agrippa saw its heyday, before becoming almost completely forgotten: subsequently looted, stripped of their ornaments and left to fall into ruin.
Only in the Renaissance did enlightened gentlemen once again discover and appreciate them: Cardinal della Queva reopened the water’s outflow channel, while Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, having turned to these waters to treat his own ill-health, built the channel and was the first to attempt surveys in the depths of the lakes. Precisely thanks to the healing properties of the Acque Albule waters, which had been recommended to him by the physician to Francesco I for the treatment of gout, Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, who hailed from a powerful family, asked for and obtained governance of the city of Tivoli. Here he built the famous Villa d'Este high on a hilltop, to escape the marshy and unhealthy area surrounding the water's source.
At the beginning of the 2000s, with a long-term intervention, the Sirio Hotel (owner of the hotel complex in the vicinity of the spa) acquired a stake in the Terme at via the Società delle Acque Albule, owner of the Spa.
A development project was immediately given the go ahead, whose first phase was the functional and structural adaptation of the entire complex, before moving on to a new European state-of-the-art thermal spa, two new hotels with health clinics and a PalaTerme within the spa’s perimeter. And so it was that the ancient Baths of Rome came to life once more, adding to the territory a series of first-rate tourist services using those unaltered healing properties of Acque Albule; from a glorious past to a radiant present.
Since 2001, Studio 3c+t Capolei Cavalli architectural associates from Rome have been involved in upgrading and restoring the Terme di Roma, whose project was divided into four phases.
Having evolved into qualified facilities in terms of healthcare and structure, spa centres have become genuine health care providers in the fields of prevention, care and rehabilitation, but not only. In fact, they are not just for people who are ill, but for anyone who has their psychophysical balance at heart.
The effectiveness of Health Spas has been recognised by the National Health System. For this reason, for certain ailments, GPs can prescribe a period of spa treatments at a local NHS-covered centre, such as the aforementioned Terme di Roma. You only pay the prescription charge, like when buying medicine.
The conditions for which the use of health spa treatments is covered are: osteoarthritis and other degenerative diseases, respiratory problems (bronchitis, allergic rhinitis, sinusitis), vascular diseases, certain skin pathologies (psoriasis, eczema, atopic dermatitis and seborrheic dermatitis), digestive disorders, and gynaecological diseases.
The thermal cures are not proposed as a replacement to pharmacological treatment in those cases where it is necessary, but are integrated with it. It can be said that thermal medicine is a form of "complementary" or "integrated" medicine. In chronic conditions (rheumatoid and respiratory), for example, the alternation of thermal treatment with medicines can be very useful: in effect, it reduces the risk of intoxication if the person has been on a course of medicine for a long time and can avoid the drug’s effectiveness being lost or reduced due to the development of tolerance. On the contrary, thermal treatments should be avoided during the acute phase of a disease or when the body is severely weakened or immunodepressed.
In addition, the therapeutic contribution of health spas is aimed at a more complete well-being and can be combined with a pleasurable stay, not only physical but also mental, and with the opportunity to visit cultural places of interest or local attractions.
The Terme di Roma offer all this at just a few kilometres from the Eternal City, and a short walk from the beautiful Roman villas of Tivoli. A cure for the body and soul, plunging yourself into the glorious past of Roman civilisation.
The completely renovated and refurbished amenities of the New Thermal Spa, in addition to traditional cures from thermal medicine, offer different types of wellness programmes thanks to utilisation of the latest technologies.
