THE SANATORIUM DR.VON HARTUNGEN AT RIVA ON LAKE GARDA

In 1995 the cultural achievements of the Belle Epoque, which had found their expression in the sanatorium run by Dr Christoph von Hartungen (1849-1917) and his son, Erhard von Hartungen, were commemorated by the Municipality of Riva in an exhibition, “Ai confini della Mitteleuropa [On the borders of Mitteleuropa]”. The street signs of today recall its illustrious guests, such as Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Franz Kafka, Hermann Sudermann, Friedrich Nietzsche and Rainer Maria Rilke.
Originally from the town of Römhild in Thuringia, Germany, the family moved to Vienna at the end of the 18th century, subsequently producing an uninterrupted line of 16 physicians, including Christoph (1773-1853), the first homeopath of Salzburg and Lombardy, who in 1841 successfully treated Field Marshal Radetzky. The family was ennobled as von Hartungen in 1867: in 1888 Christoph’s grandson, also Christoph, opened the soon-to-be-famous “Sanatorium Dr. von Hartungen” in what was at that time the Austrian town of Riva. In order not to jeopardise the “spa tourism” of the time, only patients who were not suffering from infectious diseases were accepted in Riva. The most common ailments were metabolic disorders and circulatory, stomach and nervous complaints, which Dr von Hartungen preferred to treat with naturopathic methods, such as diet, water and air cures in combination with exercise and the removal of stimulants and stress. To escape the summer heat, treatments would be transferred to the Ulten Valley above the city of Meran.
After 25 years of operation, the sanatorium finally closed its doors at the outbreak of the First World War. This film has been produced on the basis of original documents in the possession of the von Hartungen family.