Bagni Nuovi di Bormio

Downhill from Bormio's ancient baths, the Bagni Nuovi complex pairs a Grand Hotel founded in 1836 with Liberty-era extensions set in a broad park of old trees. Its park and Belle Époque interiors recall the rise of the alpine health resort at the foot of the Stelvio.

Why it matters

The Bagni Nuovi mark a nineteenth-century phase in Bormio’s thermal history. Work began in 1832, encouraged by the Austrian government that then ruled the Valtellina, and the new establishment was inaugurated in 1836 to a design by Giovanni Donegani, son of the engineer who had traced the Stelvio military road a few years earlier. The complex was enlarged and modernised over time, and in 1885 became the first place in the valley lit by electric energy. Its Liberty character reflects early twentieth-century additions by Valtellinese architect Giuseppe Ramponi, including an upper storey and central mezzanine.

What to notice

The historic park extends between Valdidentro and the woods of Monte delle Scale. It preserves the former Bagno delle pecore, once used to wash livestock, and a kitchen garden of medicinal herbs. The Bosco degli Dei (Wood of the Gods) and the Casetta sull’Albero form part of the park’s historic landscape. The Salone dei Balli features a monumental fireplace, a musicians' gallery and ceiling paintings assigned to the Milanese decorator Antonio De Grada. A fastigio above the mezzanine repeats the historic hotel name in stucco.

Context and history

The thermal springs of the Bagni di Bormio area had belonged to the community for centuries, and the Comune of Bormio regulated their use, leasing the bathing business to tenants who maintained the structures. By the early nineteenth century the old mountain baths seemed antiquated beside a new idea of the health resort, and the government pushed for a modern establishment downstream. After the 1858 sale to a company with Swiss capital, the architect Giovanni Sottovia, active in the Engadine's grand hotels, remodelled and extended the buildings with a vast thermal wing later demolished in 1977. The Milanese studio Chiodera and Tschudy enlarged the gala hall in 1881. Its painted ceilings are associated with Antonio De Grada and dated 1895. A Royal Suite was fitted out in 1917 for King Vittorio Emanuele III. The complex was restored in 2000.