History

The first mention of the Boiola spring is found in Benacus, a short poem written by the monk Giorgio Jodoco Bergano and published in 1546.

For a long time, the peninsula was mainly a holiday resort, due to its splendid position, evocative beauty and special climate. Many poets and writers have taken inspiration from Sirmione in composing odes and poetry: from Catullus to Joyce, including Carducci, Fogazzaro and Pound.

On 24th August 1889 the life of the peninsula was destined to change: a Venetian diver called Procopio, equipped with a diving suit and special pumps he had brought over from Great Britain, dived twenty metres down into Lake Garda. Near Catullus’ Caves he arrived at the Boiola hot water spring: after several attempts he managed to insert a long pipe into the rocky stratum from which a  jet of hot sulphurous water poured, greeted by the applauses of the onlookers. This was just the start of a long, delicate operation to lay more than three hundred meters of metal pipes protected by pine-wood wadding.

Terme di Sirmione owes its growth to three people in particular: Angelo Piatti, a mathematics teacher from Desenzano, who carried out chemical-physical research;  Giuseppe Piana, who solved the problem of tapping and canalizing the spring water and Angelo Gennari, a hotelier, who inaugurated sulphurous balneotherapy thermal treatments by carrying the water in boats and tanks as far as Piazza Castello.

In 1900 the first spa centre was opened and in 1921 Società Terme e Grandi Alberghi di Sirmione was founded, extending and improving spa facilities. Under the chairmanship of Count  Rambaldo di Collalto and with the collaboration of Professor Luigi Pietrantoni, a consultant otorhinolaryngolist in Brescia and director of the Clinic of otorhinolaryngology at Milan University, in 1946 a very important therapeutic method was introduced in Italy for the first time: endotubaric insufflation. In 1948, the Terme Catullo, still in operation today, was founded in the historical centre of Sirmione. After the difficult times of the two world wars, the Terme were reborn: two thermal-mineral water springs were added with the same chemical-physical and therapeutic properties as the Boiola spring. The same year, the first centre in Italy for the treatment of rhinogenic deafness was founded.

In 1975 the spa was expanded with the inauguration of a Specialist centre for the diagnosis and treatment of bronchopneumological diseases  and a thermal swimming pool was opened. In 1986 the Centro Termale Virgilio was opened to cope with the influx of users. In 1989 the micronized shower was invented, currently in use in all the spa facilities.  In 2003 Terme di Sirmione made an important investment in the Aquaria Thermal Wellness Centre, located at the Terme Catullo.

In 1987 Prince Manfredo di Collalto took over from Count Rambaldo di Collalto as Chairman of  Terme di Sirmione. Since 2004 the company has been chaired by Filippo Fernè.