Bagni misteriosi, Centro Balneare Caimi

After a decade of neglect and abandonment, in 2013 the Fondazione Pier Lombardo took on the task of reviving the Centro Balneare Caimi, composed of two pools immersed in greenery, changing rooms and the Villa. Today the spaces as a whole bear the name Bagni Misteriosi [Mysterious Baths]: a magical place, directly connected to the Teatro Franco Parenti and an integral part of its cultural programme. As director Andrée Ruth Shammah explains: “The theatre, a place of action, is the body, the swimming pool a place of regeneration, its soul. Waters and stage will coexist and will intertwine in a thousand artistic synergies”.
The project by AMDL CIRCLE is intended to reinstate the historical value of this public space for the city: the swimming pools and outdoor areas have been the object of restoration and conservative restructuring, the original structures have been adapted to suit the uses of today’s technology and the green spaces have been redesigned. From the point of view of materials, the interventions proposed fit within a philosophy of conservation of the original architectural characteristics. The insertion of two pathways with porticoes along the two sections of bathing huts make the complex usable throughout the year for open-air performances, mounted on mobile stages in the open parts and on the water. The large pool in fact has a mobile 180m² wooden platform that is usable as a stage, which during the day can become a solarium or, if shady, a space for relaxation and children’s campuses. In winter the small pool is transformable into an ice-skating rink.