Il termalismo nell'Italia romana

A few years ago, at the University of Padua a group of researchers was formed with the intent of focussing on the study of thermalism in Roman Italy. After a pioneering phase between mid-18th and the end of the 19th century, the interest towards the complex phenomenon of healing waters and their usage among the Romans has gained new energy during the final decade of last century. However, it has not reached a distinct understanding yet, because of the inner complexity of the subject, which requires different competences: not only historical, archaeological, epigraphic, topographic ones, but also geological, chemical-physical, medical etc. Our research team tried to examine in depth the different aspects of the exploitation of thermo-mineral waters, starting from a systematic filing of every healing site in Roman Italy on a georeferenced database. The paper presents the developed methodology, the reached results and future horizons of the study. The research, in fact, is still ongoing: the areas interested by the filing of thermo-mineral waters have been widened to the north western provinces of the Roman Empire (in particular Gallia, Germania and Raetia).