Fonte dell'acqua Carlina

At the mouth of the Valle Cannobina, the Acqua Carlina carries a Renaissance legend, a nineteenth-century spa past and official recognition as natural mineral water. The spring lies in the Valle di San Carlo above Cannobio.

Why it matters

Cannobio's official tourism portal describes the Acqua Carlina as the best-known spring in the area. Its recognition as natural mineral water, together with its legend and industrial history, reflects the role Alpine water played in the fortunes of the lakeside community.

What to notice

Ruins of the nineteenth-century bottling works and hotel remain at the site, recalling the spring's period of commercial activity around 1900. The surrounding slopes frame the source in the Valle di San Carlo. Historical claims about therapeutic effects formed part of the spring's reputation; they are not a basis for current medical advice.

Context and history

The spring takes its name from San Carlo Borromeo, the Archbishop of Milan. According to the tradition recorded on Cannobio's tourism portal, he drank from this water during a pastoral visit and felt the better for it, and from that episode the source became known as the Carlina and was credited with healing qualities. The valley it rises in, the Valle di San Carlo, preserves his name to this day.

From the mid-nineteenth century the spring's reputation became a business. In 1867 a plant for bottling the mineral water was built beside the source, together with a large hotel; the enterprise drew a fashionable European clientele and, as the official portal records, gave lustre both to the water and to the name of Cannobio. Its guests included aristocrats from Austria, Poland, Russia, Prussia and France, and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is also recorded among its visitors. The works and hotel closed in the early twentieth century, and the buildings gradually fell into ruin.

The story did not end there. In 2016 the Italian Ministry of Health officially recognised the water as natural mineral water by decree n. 42813 of 12 January 2016, and new analyses have since been discussed as a step towards possible renewed use of the source. The site's restoration has renewed interest in the industrial history of the Valle Cannobina.