#7 th Café of Europe

Acqui Terme

Friday 17 th October 2014

Sala Belle EpoqueGrand Hotel Nuove Terme

History In Thermal Towns

Culture, Literature, architecture and “Loisir” in Thermal Towns

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may

be made of the information contained therein.

www.ehtta.euwww.sources-of-culture.comwww.facebook.com/sourcedeculturewww.facebook.com/ThermalTravelwww.scoop.it/historic-thermal-cities-villes-thermales-historiqueswww.sources-of-culture.comwww.turismoacquiterme.itwww.comune.acquiterme.al.it

Organizational aspects

INFORMATION REGISTRATION TO THE CAFE'City of Acqui Terme City of Acqui TermeTourism Office Tourism Office Raffaella Caria tel: +39 0144 770 240EHTTA Executive Secretary turismo@comuneacqui.comturismo@comuneacqui.comcontact@ehtta.eu

“At the Sources of Europe”, the interactive novelUtilizing new means of communication based on creativity and interactivity, a small dramatic representation entitled “At the Sources of Europe” will allow the audience to follow a two-year journey of four virtual characters who’ll be spending time in the thermal towns. It will be possible to interact with them, and to learn more about the prestigious past of these towns, as well as their current tourist attractions. In this Trans media project, the four virtual characters (the author, a travel writer – Valerie, a musician – Clara, a thermal doctor – Georg and a prince – Charles Joseph) will meet notable historic and contemporary figures from the thermal towns. Each Café of Europe will be the stage for meetings between the four characters, who will be contribut-ing in various ways: readings by actors, letters, messages, blogs, postcards, photos, interviews. These contribu-tions will be broadcast and published through the thermal towns’ websites, social and interactive media, and those of their partners.

E – Book

During the Café of Europe, the photographer Loiez Deniel from the French Videoformes Association will capture with unique shots the finest moments that will be gathered in an e-book -a photographic reportage and published on EHTTA’s and SOURCE’s websites

Travel Diary

A digital travel diary will be produced in each the towns to narrate these encounters and their architectural and creative surroundings. This modern version of a traditional holiday diary, is an integrant part of “Sources” project. The artists, young travellers from all over Europe will create a diary for each European Café. In Acqui Terme, Guillaume Reynard (www.guillaumereynard.com) an illustrator and French artist, will spend a few days capturing impressions of the Cafés Europe and of the Literary prize Acqui Storia.The travel Diary is realized in cooperation with the “Il Faut Aller Voir” Association, and will be publicised on EHTTA’s, SOURCE’s and Acqui Terme City Council’s websites.

Valery Clara Georg

The Composer Giacomo Puccini took the waters in Acqui Terme in June 1904

Charles Joseph

Welcome greetings

This important event is part of a biennial European project entitled “Sources of Culture: the Cafés of Europe” that gathers 11 partners from six European Countries. Its aim is to create awareness on the themes regarding the wealth of the cultural heritage found in all the thermal cities. We took inspiration from “The Café of Europe” in the 19th Century , where European thermal towns were not only places of treatment, but also characterised by intellectual gathering, where the political affairs of the time were discussed, all the while appreciating the value of contemporary artistic creation, and organising debates of ideas. The city of Acqui Terme is honoured to host the 7th “Café of Europe” with the organization of two Europe-an round tables concerning culture, literature, architecture, history and leisure in the thermal towns. These will take place along with the 47th Edition of the Premio Acqui Storia – Acqui’s History Prize Award, dedicated to the memory of the Division Acqui and its sacrifice, which sadly ended in September 1943 on the Ionian Islands of Cephalonia and Corfu. We are very grateful that this outstanding European event will take place alongside the Premio Acqui Storia – Acqui’s History Prize Award in the year that inaugurates a new European politics route. Enrico Silvio Bertero Franca Roso

Mayor of Acqui Terme Vice Mayor of Acqui Terme Statutory Secretary EHTTA Association

The European Historic Thermal Towns Association (EHTTA)

Created in Brussels in 2009, this network brings together 25 spa towns from eleven European countries, amongst which the Italian ones: Acqui Terme, Fiuggi, Montecatini Terme and Salsomaggiore Terme. It aims at obtaining from the European Union recognition for the European thermal towns’ for a specific culture and innovation, both historical and contemporary, with the objective of developing tourism activities in the frame-work of a new plan to encourage trans-border tourism, “Destination Europe”. Every member is an integral part of the historic thermal towns cultural route, one of the twenty-six cultural routes recognized by the Council of Europe since 1987.

Sources of Culture: the Cafés of Europe, a brand new European project

The 7th Café of Europe: “History in Thermal Towns” is part of a two year-long European project entitled “Sources of Culture: the Cafés of Europe”, coordinated by the Route des Villes Thermales d’eaux du Massif Central, that will take place in Acqui Terme on the 17th October 2014. It foresees two European roundtables on history, literature, architecture and leisure in thermal towns. These roundtables will be held in collaboration with the 47th edition of the Literary Prize Acqui Storia, founded to remember and honor the memory of the soldiers of the Acqui Division and their sacrifice that sadly ended in September 1943 on the Ionian islands of Cephalonia and Corfu and today spreads the awareness that historical research is one of the cornerstones of the moral, cultural and social progress of the nation.This project brings together eleven partners from six countries, with the aim of raising awareness among European citizens of the wealth of the cultural heritage found in all the thermal towns. In the context of this project, a series of eight Cafés of Europe, multidisciplinary meetings of discussion and forward thinking, are to be held in several thermal towns. They will enable a Blue Book to be written on the thermal towns’ essential role in the future of a people’s Europe based on social dialogue, strengthened by the use of digital technolo-gy, and by a sustainable cultural approach to tourist policy, founded on reinterpreting the birth of modern tourism.

Cultural Heritage in Thermal Towns

"In synthesis, the European thermal towns' history is extremely rich in exchanges, crossing influences, multiple informal encounters, of artistic creations, scientific and medical inventions that the “Cafés of an elite Europe” as they were in the past can be reinterpreted and reconsidered, creating new “Cafés of Europe”: open to every one thanks to these multidisciplinary meetings, the cities can rediscover their creative imagination. The Cafés are places where the local decision makers, together with the inhabi-tants and guests of the thermal cities, can envisage social scenarios, places where the local territory interacts with the European dimension in which governance goes hand in hand with fantasy”.

Michel Thomas-Penette,EHTTA Delegate General

What is it about?These are milestones of the Roman Empire passing through the Arabic and Turkish influence in the south and east of the continent, and of the days of elite thermalism linked to the Grand Tour, that of health and green tourism, to which all contemporary cities aspire.Their vivid expression ranges from classical music festivals linked to the historical presence of the greatest composers, to large contemporary gatherings which accompany jazz, rock and electro music festivals.Their gathering places vary from archaeological sites, to hammams, from open air thermal pools to the most modern thermal leisure centres, from outstanding buildings marked by the Art Nouveau or Art Deco with audacious architectural designs to the contemporary use a new materials, from the most prestigious art foundations to anthropology museums. The choice of a theme in Acqui Terme that highlights the architectural and literary heritage, the artists glance and the testimony of history to be put in relation with the prestigious Acqui Storia Award Prize has resulted as evidence. This is an opportunity to add an important chapter to the "storytelling of the history of our continent”.

15.00 – 16.00: Press Conference “Café of Europe” - Conference Room «Belle Époque» Grand Hotel Nuove Terme

16.00 – 19.30:

16.15 – 18.00:

18.00 – 18.15: Coffee Break

18.30 – 19.30:

CLOSING CEREMONY Mr Michel Thomas Penette: “Writing thermal towns”

Presentation of the 8thCafé of Europe – “European Spa towns – utopias of the past and present?” Bath, England, 5th March 2015

Program of the 7 th Cafè of Europe - History In Thermal Towns

“Café of Europe” - Conference Room «Belle Époque» Grand Hotel Nuove TermeWelcome speechesMr Enrico Silvio Bertero, Mayor of Acqui TermeMr Giuseppe Bellandi, EHTTA President and Mayor of Montecatini TermeDr Eleonora Berti, Council of Europe Cultural Routes Project Coordinator - European Institute of Cultural Routes of Luxembourg

1st round table: “Culture, literature architecture of thermal towns” Moderators Michel Thomas Penette EHTTA Delegate General and Carlo Ludovico Sburlati Executive Responsible “Premio Acqui Storia”Prof Augusto Grandi: “Spa and Wellness from the crisis to the relaunch” Prof Alessandro Federico Martini: "Acqui and the architecture of its thermal buildings, through “long-term” and uncompleted projects”Prof Carlo Prosperi: “Literature and thermal towns”Dr Giovanni Rebora: “The Baths of Acqui Terme from “Le Guide per il Bagnante” in the XIX and XX centuries”

2ⁿd round table “Loisir in Spa Towns in the history of writers and artists”Moderators Michel Thomas Penette EHTTA Delegate General and Carlo Ludovico Sburlati Executive Responsible “Premio Acqui Storia”Mr Lionello Archetti Maestri: “Chats and coffee: causerie au Café”Prof Annunziata Berrino: “Stories of Italian Thermal Towns: culture, practice and immagina”Prof Aldo Alessandro Mola: “Diuretic water and spa treatments for statesmen and diplomats wandering on the brink of the Great War: Giovanni Giolitti, Antonino di San Giuliano and others…”

Claudia Cardinale “Witness of the Time” 40 th edition “Premio Acqui Storia”