The water at Montecatini has been drunk for health since the Middle Ages, but it was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the town became one of the great spa resorts of Europe, with grand thermal establishments built in neoclassical, Liberty and Art Deco styles, set in parks of plane trees and pines. The Tettuccio, with its marble colonnades and frescoes, is the most famous, a temple of water where visitors drink from taps along a counter. In 2021 Montecatini became part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site, alongside Baden-Baden, Bath, Vichy and others.
The town is a place of hotels, gardens and wide avenues, built for a leisured clientele that included Verdi, Puccini and a long list of celebrities. A funicular, opened in the late nineteenth century, climbs from the town to Montecatini Alto, the medieval hill town above, with its piazza, cafés and views over the Valdinievole and the plain toward Florence.
The Valdinievole is a lovely area, with hill towns, olive groves and villas. Pescia, nearby, is a centre of flower growing, and Collodi, a little further, is the home of the Pinocchio park, named after the author of the story, who took his pen name from the village. The hills toward Pistoia and the Apennines offer some excellent roads.
Riding in Montecatini itself is town riding, with traffic and one way streets, but the hills around are rewarding. The road up to Montecatini Alto is twisty and fun, and the roads through the Valdinievole and up into the Pistoia mountains are good, with views and light traffic. Summer heat can be strong in the valley.
Montecatini has fuel on the main roads and more hotels and restaurants than it can fill outside high season. Try the cialde di Montecatini, thin wafers filled with almonds, a local speciality, and the Tuscan dishes of the area, such as pappa al pomodoro and ribollita. The spas offer treatments and the parks are pleasant for a stroll.