La moda del agua. Sociedad y turismo en el balneario de la Vilavella en el siglo XIX

Treball Final de Grau en Història i Patrimoni. Codi: HP1036. Curs acadèmic: 2017/2018Throughout the history of humanity, water has been a very present element in all civilizations, not only because of the fact that water gives life, but also for its ludic and pleasant us, as it happened in the Roman baths, or in the Islamic world where it was also used to embellish through beautiful fountains and gardens. However, all this was prohibited by the Catholic morality of medieval times. And it was not until the end of the 18th century that the curative and playful aspect of the water reappeared. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, throughout the European territory there was a real boom in spa practices, carrying out a revaluation of water as a healing element. In the springs that tested the effectiveness of its waters, thermal centers were built very much to the taste of the upper classes of society, and that in some cases, they became spa towns, as happened in northern Europe. The Spanish case, the volume of bathers was smaller, reason why it was not arrived at this end, but in spite of it, they are numbers the spas constructed throughout the peninsular territory, which thanks to the medical topographies and the publicity that was made about them laid the foundations of tourism of the time. An example of this is found in the municipality of Vilavella, where the healing properties of Font Calda as well as the particular wells that were found scattered around the town, they made it possible that between the middle and the end of the 19th century, eleven spas became active, which meant the rise and awakening of this small town of Castellón