We are resuming our European Spa Online Seminar Series!

Dr Laetitia Levantis from Aix-Marseille Univ./ CNRS will present her research on Venice as a thermal and climatic resort in the 19th century

All are welcome.

Abstract:

In the 19th century, the interest shown by French and Venetian scientists in the microclimate of the lagoon results in the appearance of balneary tourism to the ancient city centre of Venice. The exceptional properties of the lagoonal waters revealed by medical publications meant that by the end of the century there were thousands of European patients longing to enjoy the beneficial effects of the Venetian climate and to go bathing in the lagoon. In the golden age of health resorts and hydrotherapy, the city of Venice developed its own balneotherapeutic function by creating manyestablishments for balneotherapy and water medication.

About the speaker :

Dr Laetitia Levantis is an art historian and researcher associated with the UMR TELEMME of the Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'Homme in Aix-en-Provence (Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS). She is the author of a book entitled: Venise, un spectacle d’eau et de pierres. Architecture et paysage dans les récits de voyageurs français (1756-1850) (Grenoble, UGA éds, Coll. " Italie Plurielle ", 2016 [republished in 2019]). In 2017, this book was awarded the Édouard Saman Prize of the Letters, Science and Arts Academy of Marseille.

Laetitia has also published extensively in French and Italian journals on the theme of travel to Venice in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including questions concerning the criticism of Venetian architecture in the texts of French and European travellers, or the emergence of thermal and medical tourism in the historic centre of Venice during the Romantic period.

Please join us on zoom: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/83002803556.