Abano Terme

Comune in Veneto, Italy

Location of Abano Terme

45°21′37″N 11°47′24″E / 45.36028°N 11.79000°E / 45.36028; 11.79000CountryItalyRegionVenetoProvincePadua (PD)FrazioniFeriole, Giarre, Monterosso, MonteortoneGovernment

• MayorFederico BarbieratoArea

^[1]

• Total21 km² (8 sq mi)Elevation

14 m (46 ft)Population

(31 August 2021)^[2]

• Total19,868 • Density950/km² (2,500/sq mi)DemonymAponensi or AbanesiTime zoneUTC+1 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)Postal code

35031

Dialing code049Patron saintSt. LawrenceSaint dayAugust 10WebsiteOfficial website

Abano Terme (known as Abano Bagni until 1924) is a town and comune in the Province of Padua, in the Veneto region, Italy, on the eastern slope of the Euganean Hills; it is 10 kilometres (6 mi) southwest by rail from Padua. Abano Terme's population is 19,062 (2001) (in 1901 it was 4,556).^[3]

The town's hot springs and mud baths are an important economic resource.^[3] The waters have a temperature of about 80 °C (176 °F).

History

The baths were known to the Romans as Aponi fons or Aquae Patavinae. A description of them is given in a letter to Theodoric, the king of the Ostrogoths, from Cassiodorus. Some remains of the ancient baths have been discovered (S. Mandruzzato, Trattato dei Bagni d'Abano, Padua, 1789). An oracle of Geryon lay near, and the so-called sortes Praenestinae (C.I.L. i., Berlin, 1863; 1438–1454), small bronze cylinders inscribed, and used as oracles, were perhaps found here in the 16th century.^[3]

The baths were destroyed by the Lombards in the 6th century, but they were rebuilt and enlarged when Abano became an autonomous comune in the 12th century and, again, in the late 14th century. The city was under the Republic of Venice from 1405 to 1797.

Main sights

Abano Cathedral, or the cathedral (duomo) of St. Lawrence. The current edifice was erected in 1780 over a pre-existing church which was allegedly destroyed by Cangrande della Scala. The bell tower has parts from the 9th/10th and 14th centuries.
The Montirone Gallery, housing works of Il Moretto, Palma il Giovane, Guido Reni, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo and others.
The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Salute or of Monteortone (built from 1428). It lies on the site where the Madonna appeared to Pietro Falco, healing his wounds. The church is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles with three apses decorated by a frieze. It has with a Baroque portal (1667), a bell tower, presbytery frescoes portraying the Histories of St. Peter and Virgin by Jacopo da Montagnana (1495) and Palma il Giovane's altarpiece depicting Christ Crucifixed Between St. Augustine and St. Jerome.

Just outside the city is San Daniele Abbey (11th century). 6 km (3.7 mi) from the city is also Praglia Abbey, founded in the 11th century by Benedictine monks and rebuilt in 1496–1550. The abbey church of the Assumption, with a marble portal from 1548, has a Renaissance style interior.

People

Pietro d'Abano (c. 1257 – 1316), Italian physician and philosopher
Matteo Meneghello (born 1981), Italian racing driver

Twin towns

Shibukawa, Japan
Bad Füssing, Germany
Lipik, Croatia
Kamena Vourla, Greece

References

^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abano Bagni". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 7.