Terme di Contursi Salernitano

Terme di Contursi, in the small spa town of Contursi Terme in the Sele river valley of Salerno province, Campania, taps into bicarbonate thermal springs that have been exploited for therapeutic bathing since at least the Bourbon period of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, when the waters were recognised for their digestive and metabolic benefits. The naturally bicarbonate-rich waters emerge warm from the geological formations of the southern Apennines and are used in supervised balneotherapy programmes in keeping with Italy's rigorous medical thermal tradition. The surrounding Sele valley landscape — with the Cilento National Park mountains to the south, the ancient Greek temples of Paestum (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) just 30 kilometres away, and the rugged Alburni massif rising to the east — gives Contursi Terme a privileged position within one of southern Italy's richest cultural and natural landscapes.