About us

Acqui Terme has something strange and fascinating about it. You walk through the center, turn a corner, and suddenly find yourself standing in front of a fountain from which steam is rising. It is not a special effect, not an art installation: it is real water, sulfurous, salty, brominated, and rich in iodine, in the middle of the square at a temperature of 74 degrees Celsius. It is one of the few cities in the world where a natural hot spring is literally located in the historic center, accessible to everyone, at any time. We are talking about the Bollente.

The building housing the spring is a small octagonal temple in an eclectic style, designed by architect Giovanni Cerruti and inaugurated in 1879. Elegant and solid, it has the appearance of a 19th-century monument that breathes a rich history. In the center of the spring, no less than 560 liters of water flow per minute - a remarkable flow rate that has supplied the city's thermal baths with water for centuries and still attracts curious visitors from far and wide. Right next to it stands the City Clock Tower, nicknamed the "tower without foundations" because, incredibly enough, it rests on the surrounding houses rather than on the ground. It was built in 1763 on the foundations of an old gate in the medieval city wall and stands proudly beside the spring to this day, almost like a sentinel.

The roots of this place go back much further than the 19th century. Acqui was already known and frequently visited in Roman times, when the thermal waters had recognized therapeutic value and the baths were meeting places. On Via Saracco, the street leading to Piazza della Bollente, beneath the old arcades, the remains of a mosaic floor from that period, discovered in the 19th century, can still be seen. Later excavations brought to light the remains of a Roman pool, a fountain, other buildings, and even the old hospital of Sant'Antonio Abate in Balneas. A piece of a buried city, discovered by chance, demonstrating how this corner of Piedmont was already a place of healing and passage.