Giuseppe Garibaldi in Casamicciola

Why Garibaldi chose Casamicciola

In 1862, at Aspromonte, Giuseppe Garibaldi had been wounded in the right foot. Two years later the injury had still not fully healed, and his doctors advised a course of thermal treatment. The choice fell on Casamicciola, which by the mid-19th century was already one of the best-known spa resorts in southern Italy thanks to the springs of Piazza Bagni.

The General set out from Caprera and reached the island on 19 June 1864 aboard the Duke of Sutherland's yacht Undine. Landing at Ischia Porto, he went straight on to Casamicciola, accompanied among others by his sons Menotti and Ricciotti.

The stay in Piazza Bagni and the move to the Sentinella

His first residence was the Manzi family's villa, in the Piazza dei Bagni district, next to the spa establishment of the same name: the site now occupied by the Antiche Terme Manzi. The stay was very brief. According to local accounts, a heated quarrel between the General's family and the inspector Luigi Manzi, who had been charged with looking after the guest, persuaded Garibaldi to change lodgings the very next day.

He therefore moved to Saverio Zavota's “Belle Vue” hotel, in a panoramic position in the Gran Sentinella area, in the upper part of town. The building, known today as Villa Parodi (or Parodi Delfino), still bears a plaque on its façade recording that the hero stayed there in June 1864, after Aspromonte: the inscription is listed in Italy's General Catalogue of Cultural Heritage.

The cure: from the Occhio to the Gurgitello

On the evening of his arrival, Dr Antonio Mennella, the spa physician, was consulted and recommended the waters of the Gurgitello in the form of baths and showers, as well as the San Lorenzo sweat rooms at Lacco Ameno. The General's personal doctors, Drs Albanese and Basile, accepted the advice only in part: treatment began with the gentler waters of the Occhio spring, moving on to the Gurgitello at a later stage. Accounts record a first bath lasting twenty minutes, with a rain shower over the wound, followed by rest and two glasses of water from the Castiglione spring.

The stay lasted about a month, until mid-July. Local sources give slightly different dates for his departure; all agree on a stay of about four weeks.

What remains today

Garibaldi's visit added to Casamicciola's fame as a place of healing frequented by figures from all over Europe. Following in his footsteps means moving between two parts of town: the Piazza Bagni thermal basin, home to the springs that treated him, and the Sentinella hill, where he stayed longest. Find out more on the page Garibaldi and the thermal cure.

What to see nearby

• Piazza Bagni, the historic heart of Casamicciola's spa tradition.
• The Gurgitello spring and the Antiche Terme Manzi, later also linked to the name of Angelo Rizzoli.
• The Sentinella, with its viewpoints over the gulf.