our history
the three periods
Greek Roman
Period
The thermal water of Cavascura was well known in the period of the Greek colonization of the island of Ischia. From the writings of Pindaro, Omero, Strabone and Plinio it appears that this thermal source was used by the Greek populations who vividly believed in the cult of the healthy springs. For many years lots of people visited the Cavascura spring to treat rheumatic affections, chronics infections, aftereffects of fractures and skin problems. The name Cavascura derives from the greek “causos” and “coure” that mean “extreme heat”. In the Roman period the spring had a time of great splendour. Cicerone in his writings talks about the Valley of Cavascura and its “boiling water”. The first studies of the water were made in the Third Century D.C. from Giovanni of Casamicciola who was the personal doctor of the king Carlo d’Angiò. His writings are conserved in the Angelica Library of Rome. He wrote “Cavascura Water is useful for all pains of the body and is valid for the digestion”.
In the Middle Age the baths of Cavascura were used by the Angevin nobility living in the castle of Ischia Ponte. Also the baron Marino Cossa and the governor Cesare Sterlich visited Cavascura to try this miraculous water. The Aragonese population valued the spring of Cavascura and they recommended it for those patients who suffered injuries caused by the war. King Alfonso tested the effects of the water himself and after that he built additional caves and improved the path to the entrance. Thanks to the writings of doctor Giovanni Elisio (1519), “Succinta instauratio de Balneis”, lots of people came to Cavascura from Naples. We can remember Maria d’Aragona, Giulia Gonzaga and other important women interested in curative effects of the water for the female genitals apparatus. The famous doctor Giulio Iasolino wrote in his “De rimedi naturali.” ” miracolous water that can cure throat, bones and is good for everything.”
Aragona
Period
Last
Two Centuries
Around 1700 Gian Andrea D’Aloisio analized the thermal water with the microscope and confirmed the healthy water properties already named by his predecessors.In 1769 Cavascura, after a long period of closing due to landslides, was reopened thanks to the hard work of the napoleonic general Giorgio Corafà and his soldiers.From that moment lots of patients from all over Europe travelled to Cavascura for benefitting of its water and its mud. The curiosity pushed the king Ferdinand the Second to analize this water in his Royal Chemical Kabinett of Naples. Another landslide in the second part of 1800 stopped the treatments for many years.Thanks to the doctor Lorenzo Fiore, the therms reopened in 1850. In 1933, after his death, Cavascura and the land around the spring was given to the Arciconfraternita of Serrara Fontana (that depends from the Vatican) with the name of “Opera Pia Beneficenza Fiore” that granted to Vincenzo Migliaccio the rent for 10 years. After 40 years under the control of Vincenzo Migliaccio, that left the baths and the grottos at their natural state, the Spa was closed for a few years. In 1988 the Di Iorio brothers reorganized and reopened Cavascura without changing its look and by leaving the landscape and the grottos at its natural state.Today Cavascura is open from April to October