Terme di Riolo

Terme di Riolo stands on the edge of Riolo Terme in the Senio valley, surrounded by the Parco Regionale della Vena del Gesso Romagnola, which the operator notes was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. The site describes that natural setting as having produced about sixty springs whose waters belong to the salt-sulphate group ("una sessantina di sorgenti, le cui acque appartengono al gruppo delle salso-solfate"). Rainwater filters through layers of limestone, jasper, sandstone and clay, which remove impurities while leaving the mineral salts; the operator states that the waters are microbiologically pure and are used exactly as they emerge from the spring, with an in-house laboratory testing them periodically.

Three named sources are described. Breta is a sulphurous, sulphate-bicarbonate alkaline-earth water rich in calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate, whose effect on respiratory conditions was studied by the University of Ferrara and whose use is authorised by the Ministry of Health. Vittoria is a salsobromoiodica water containing hydrogen sulphide together with significant magnesium and sodium chloride, indicated for drinking cures. Margherita is likewise salsobromoiodica, with smaller amounts of hydrogen sulphide, also used for drinking cures. The thermal pool of the wellness centre is filled with salsobromoiodica water.

The establishment consists of a thermal pool and spa area, a wellness and aesthetic centre, mud therapy using what the operator calls the region's only spring mud, inhalation therapies and an ENT centre, balneotherapy, drinking cures, a children's section (Terme Bimbo) and a motor-rehabilitation programme in thermal water; twelve hectares of thermal park with century-old trees surround the buildings. Treatment is offered both privately and under Italian national health service conventions, and the Ministry of Health has recognised the establishment as "Stabilimento Termale 1° Livello Superiore".

On its history page the operator writes that the project took shape in 1870 and that the gates opened officially on 24 July 1877; the homepage instead carries the line "Spa & Therapy dal 1870", so the two pages give different dates for the start of the establishment. Pool and spa admission requires booking. Hours listed for the pool and spa are Monday to Saturday, morning 8:30-12:30 and afternoon 15:00-18:00, with Sunday 9:00-13:00; the SSN cure cycles run Monday to Saturday and the thermal shop Monday to Friday 9:00-13:00.