essity to combine health, fun, relaxation and sport. It soon became home to fashionable restaurants, theaters, nightclubs, and a casino. Celebrities began to frequent the city. In fact, between the end of the 1800's and the early decades of the 1900's was easy to meet, in the tree-lined avenues, parks or at the bars of the city, people like Giuseppe Verdi, Pietro Mascagni Ruggero Leoncavallo Trilussa Beniamino Gigli or Luigi Pirandello.
With these celebrities Montecatini became a true meeting point of international renown: here discussions of politics, business closures were agreed and its reputation grew to the point that, in 1926 an attendance of 75,000 non residents was recorded in the city, a remarkable figure for that time.
The reputation of the town was recognized with the visit from the leader of government, Benito Mussolini, May 16, 1930, with Lando Ferretti.
During World War II, Don Julius Facibeni and l'Opera della Divina Provvidenza Madonnina del Grappa di Firenze ran an orphanage in Montecatini at the Villa Forini Lippi. In it, as in the case of the others in Tuscany, many Jewish children found shelter, among them the brothers Cesare and Vittorio Sacerdoti. Facibeni received the honor of the righteous among nations by Yad Vashem of Jerusalem.
Montecatini Terme is one of the most popular destinations in Italy for thermal spa tourism.
The local specialty, waffles Montecatini, made with egg and sugar, is much sought after as a dessert
