HOTEL CONCORDE

Fiuggi - History

The modern history of the city began in 1911, when its name was changed from Anticoli di Campagna to Fiuggi. This date marks a convenient watershed between the ancient country town and today's spa and tourist resort. Anticoli di Campagna's experience was similar to that of other centres in the area directly influenced by the Papacy. In the Middle Ages it had been a fief of the noble Cajetani family, but later came under the immediate control of the Holy See. From 1478 the town belonged to the Borgias, and from 1517 to 1816, almost without interruption, to the Colonna family. In 1911 Fiuggi's transformation began with the opening of the Grand HoteL followed by the Palazzo della Fonte and with the construction of the complex of buildings and gardens associated with the Boniface VIII Spring. Soon the city was to become the important tourist centre we know today. Two medieval ledgers exist which record a series of payments to two papal servants who, during a period of just over three years, travelled from Rome 51 times to collect supplies of the health-giving water for Pope Boniface VIII. Between 1548 and 1549 Michelangelo Buonarroti used the waters from a "fount" 40 miles from Rome - Anticoli di Campagna, today's Fiuggi - to obtain relief from "the stone". The great artist informed his nephew Lionardo of the suecessful cure in a letter now preserved in the Vatican archives. In subsequent years more and more people visited Fiuggi and spread the fame of its waters, as they continue to do today.

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