Antiche Fonti
Tito Chini and the Spa Culture in Trentino
The Buonconsiglio Castle Museum presents an exhibition at its Castel Caldes location dedicated to thermalism, a historical and social phenomenon that experienced significant growth in Trentino, particularly in the decades around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Thermal culture
The thermal baths established in Pejo, Rabbi, Vetriolo, Levico, Roncegno and Comano remain popular destinations today, renowned for the therapeutic and healing properties of their waters. Between the final years of Austro-Hungarian rule and the 1930s — spanning the entire Belle Époque era — these localities became favoured destinations for an elegant clientele seeking thermal cures, drawing upper-class visitors from Central Europe and the nearby Kingdom of Italy.
The exhibition
The Vetriolo paintings are now on display for the first time as part of this exhibition, together with previously unpublished sketches and ceramics, within the framework of a specific focus on Tito Chini and the Art Deco movement. The exhibition continues with the narrative of the history of thermal bathing in Trentino with advertising posters, on loan from the Museo Nazionale Collezione Salce and private collections, that testify to the evolution of artistic language and taste. A special emphasis is placed on the figure of Antonio Stoppani, a writer and geologist best known as the author of Il Bel Paese, who stayed in Rabbi in 1888.
The artist
It was within this context that Tito Chini (Florence 1898 — Desio 1947), a painter and ceramist from a distinguished family of decorators originally from Florence was invited to Vetriolo. Having completed major decorative projects in Tuscany and the Vicenza area, in 1936 the painter was commissioned to decorate the Vetriolo Thermal Bath. The complex was demolished in 1997, but part of its interior decoration was rescued thanks to the intervention of the Office for Historical and Artistic Heritage of the Autonomous Province of Trento.
