Abano Terme

Abano Terme sits on the edge of the Euganean Hills near Padua, built almost entirely around its thermal waters. This isn't a town of grand monuments but of spa hotels, landscaped gardens, and a broad pedestrian centre running between Piazza Fontana and the Montirone gardens, lined with shops, cafés, and restaurants.

The waters themselves come from deep underground, surfacing at around 87°C after a long journey from the Lessini Mountains, then cooled for the pools and combined with matured mud for the fango treatments that have made this region famous. Nearly all thermal access runs through hotels rather than public bathing sites, so the experience is one of booked treatments and resort routines rather than casual soaking.

The cure-town tradition here goes back to Roman times, when the springs were associated with the healing deity Aponus. Montirone Hill still carries that history, framed by a 19th-century colonnade marking where the springs once emerged naturally. A few other landmarks—Villa Bassi Rathgeb with its art collection, a mask museum, some handsome old hotel façades—round out the sightseeing, but they're secondary to the spa life itself.

Just beyond town, the Euganean Hills offer volcanic peaks, vineyards, olive groves, and walking paths, a quiet counterpoint to the resort plain. Padua is about 30 minutes away by bus, making Abano an easy, restorative base rather than a sightseeing destination in its own right.