Fiuggi wouldn’t be Fiuggi without its water. It’s the reason that, for more than seven hundred years, travellers, popes and artists have climbed up here into the Ernici mountains: a light mineral water, low in salts and with a very low dry residue, long tied to the wellbeing of the urinary tract.
“The water that breaks the stone”
In the Middle Ages Fiuggi was called Anticoli di Campagna. The fame of its water reached Rome: Pope Boniface VIII, tormented by kidney stones, had it carried to the Eternal City to treat himself. Two centuries later Michelangelo Buonarroti celebrated it too — in a 1549 letter he gives thanks for “the water that breaks the stone,” which had freed him of his ailment. Two names that, on their own, are worth a legend — and still tell the story of the town today.
The properties
Fiuggi water is classified as oligomineral (low-mineral) and stands out for its very low dry residue and minimal sodium content. It has traditionally been valued for its diuretic action and for helping the body flush uric acid and small kidney stones.
The spa offers specific cure programmes; for any medical question it’s always best to consult your own doctor or the thermal centre’s specialists.
The two springs
The water rises in two thermal parks at the heart of the lower town:
- Bonifacio VIII spring — the most famous, set in a Liberty-era park with pavilions, tree-lined avenues and fountains.
- Anticolana spring — quieter and more intimate, surrounded by greenery, loved by those seeking calm.
The ritual of the water cure
The water cure (cura idropinica) is simple and ancient: you drink the water straight from the spring, in small amounts several times a day, for a few days in a row. It’s a slow ritual — made of strolls along the avenues, pauses on the benches, and time for yourself; the opposite of rushing. The thermal season generally runs from spring to autumn.
The thermal town
Around the springs, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, thermal Fiuggi was born: the grand Liberty-style hotels, the parks, the theatre, and a tradition of hospitality that lives alongside the medieval old town of Fiuggi Città, perched higher up. The town still has this double soul: the calm of the spa below, the stone lanes at the top.
Today
Acqua Fiuggi is bottled and sold all over Italy, but the best way to know it is still just one: drink it at the source, with the Ernici mountains all around. A wellness escape an hour from Rome that’s good for the body — and, the locals say, for the spirit too.