The swelling features of gelatine gels in water (good solvent) were studied as a function of thermodynamic conditions of sol-gel transition and ripening. It is shown that the degree of equilibrium swelling Q(e) varies with the volume fraction of the polymer in a casting solution phi(0) in accordance with the prediction of the classic theory. Q(e) similar to phi(0)(-0.04) . Q(e), as a function of the gelation temperature T-g, the ripening time T-r and phi(0), can be rescaled and described by the single empirical equation : Q(e) similar to T(g)(-x)t(r)(-y)phi(0)(-0.04), where x = 0.1, y = 0.15 for wet gels and x = -0.5, y = 0.04 for dried gels. The kinetics of macroscopic swelling is described by the equation of Peters and Candau, with values of collective diffusion coefficients being in good agreement with values obtained by other workers via photon correlation spectroscopy.