Terme di Salsomaggiore to relaunch: the plan of Cdp and QC Terme arrives
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Salsomaggiore is preparing to celebrate the centenary of Terme Berzieri, a global symbol of thermalism and Art Déco, with a courageous juxtaposition of art and construction sites, to transform the anniversary into the watershed date between the past bankruptcy public management and a second life entrusted to the partnership between Cassa depositi e prestiti (which in 2021, after five years of composition with creditors, took over the assets for 10.25 million euros) and the private individuals of QC Terme, the Italian Quadrio Curzio group leader in the wellness sector, which will the twenty-year concession for the structure, once the redevelopment works have been completed (another 15 million euros).
The thermal complex on the Parma Apennines was inaugurated on May 27, 1923 and immediately became a worldwide attraction, not only for the bromide-iodine-rich waters but by virtue of the artistic marvel accomplished by Galileo Chini, Florentine painter, decorator and ceramist, demiurge of Art Déco whose 150th anniversary of birth occurs this year. The salsa exhibition «Galileo Chini. Gold and the Orient. Decorative alchemies for the most beautiful spas in the world», which from 26 May to 24 September 2023 will unite four key points of the city under the banner of Art Déco.
Renovation just started
«We will open the central hall of the Terme Berzieri to the public, which has now been closed for a year. The renovation has just started and the goal is to inaugurate a wellness center of international caliber by 2025», explains the mayor of Salsomaggiore Terme, Filippo Fritelli. The exhibition will then unfold between the former Grand Hotel delle Terme; the Corte Civica Tommasini (a former thermal institute transformed into a hotel management school which has also hosted a university course for a year) and the private residence Villa Fonio. While the restoration sites will involve both Palazzo Berzieri and the former thermal power plant, which will be transformed into a spa with 9 pools (including a panoramic infinity pool on the roof) with the possibility of also converting the former chemical institute into a hotel.
CDP intervention
For a city of 20,000 inhabitants which lived for over a century on assisted thermal monoculture, the Chini exhibition and the intervention of Cdp truly represent a turning point and an opportunity to tell the world about another version of Emilia, as the cradle not only of machines and tiles but of a “slow mix” made of health, nature, culture, slow tourism, which is well suited to the mantra of sustainable development (economic, social, environmental) of local communities. This is the target of Fondo Turismo 1, the vehicle participated by the National Tourism Fund, with which Cdp acquired the thermal complex of Salsomaggiore, making its debut in the thermal sector: «FT1 invests in Italian tourist and hotel structures in the sector leisure and cities – let the MEF subsidiary know – favoring areas with high growth potential and positive impact on the territory, in partnership with solid national managers with proven managerial skills capable of repositioning the tourist-accommodation offer”.
«The Covid years were terrible for the spa sector, last year we recovered more than 40% of the business, thanks to the driving force of the wellness and rehabilitation branch. It’s the healthcare segment (thermal treatments) that is struggling, but our 23 spa centers have the capacity to double the 150,000 pre-Covid customers and related activities on the hospitality and tourism system. The spas, the real ones like the Berzieri, represent the identity, history and culture of a territory», concludes Lino Giglioli, president of Coter, the Consortium of the Thermal Circuit of Emilia-Romagna.
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