Terme Borrini

Terme Borrini, trading today as Terme di Monticelli, is a thermal establishment at Monticelli Terme in the commune of Montechiarugolo, on the first hills south of Parma. Its origin is a farming accident: in 1924 Italo Borrini, drilling a well to irrigate his land at Montepelato, struck salt water instead. The operator's history page records that he discovered a salsobromoiodic spring rising from a depth of 64 metres and, after obtaining a concession, built a provisional bath house before opening the present complex on 15 May 1927 inside a large mature park. A second, sulphurous aquifer was found later, and the establishment still draws on both. The resulting building is known as the Terme Borrini.

Bathing is the core of the present offer. Four indoor thermal pools hold salsobromoiodic water at graded temperatures from 30 to 34 °C, fitted with hydromassage stations, geysers, waterfalls, counter-current swimming lanes and hydrobikes. The operator names them individually: the 136-square-metre Piscina delle Rose at 30 °C, used for swimming and exercise and linked to a sauna and Turkish bath; the 170-square-metre Area Benessere Matisse at 32 °C, built around hydromassage with a sauna, an essence tepidarium and showers at graded temperatures; and the 285-square-metre Piscine Parco, a pair of basins at 32 and 34 °C. The whole wellness area covers 4,000 square metres and sits in a thermal park of 24 hectares.

Access does not depend on a medical referral. From 10:00 to 19:00 bathers can use all the pools plus the saunas, Turkish baths, essence tepidarium and gym, and the operator states plainly that no booking is required. The Piscine Parco are closed on Mondays; the Area Matisse and the Piscina delle Rose open daily.

Alongside the pools the establishment runs a conventional Italian cure department at the same address, offering inhalation treatments, mud therapy and treatment for rhinogenic deafness on a separate morning timetable, plus a rehabilitation centre, a diagnostic service and the Spa nel Parco treatment centre. Two hotels, the four-star Hotel delle Rose and the three-star Hotel delle Terme, belong to the same company and have their own thermal departments. The business has stayed in the founding family for four generations.