Terme di Acqui

The short version

Acqui Terme, a small town in the Monferrato hills of southern Piedmont, has been a spa town since the Romans called it Aquae Statiellae. In 2026 you cannot soak there. The private company Terme di Acqui S.p.A., which since 2016 has owned most of the town’s thermal buildings, closed its last working centre in December 2025. In January 2026 it sent dismissal letters to the Nuove Terme staff (seven permanent employees and about fifteen seasonal workers, according to Acquinews), and no 2026 cure season followed. The concessions to use the Bollente and Vascone water ran out during 2026.

The rest of the complex was already shut. The Grand Hotel Nuove Terme, linked to the cure centre, is closed. The big outdoor pool in the Bagni quarter has been inactive since 2020. For the Lago delle Sorgenti spa, the last independent reports we found (January 2025) said the Nuove Terme was the only establishment still open in town.

We list this page as temporarily closed. What follows covers what used to be here, what is still worth seeing, and where things stand.

What was here

Acqui’s water is hot, sulphurous and salty (the spa classes it as sulphur-salt-bromine-iodine water). The Terme di Acqui website gives two main hyperthermal sources, at about 167°F and 122°F75°C and 50°C.

• La Bollente: the famous spring in the old town. Italian Wikipedia gives a flow of 560 litres a minute at 166°F74.5°C. It comes out under an octagonal marble shrine built in 1879 by the architect Giovanni Ceruti, in Piazza della Bollente.
• Lago delle Sorgenti: in the Bagni quarter, across the Bormida river, seven springs at 113-131°F45-55°C collect in two basins. The day spa built around them advertised an indoor thermal pool at 97°F36°C and an outdoor stone pool, the “Vulcano”, at about 102-104°F39-40°C.
• Nuove Terme: the medical cure centre on Via XX Settembre, near the station, which offered mud therapy, therapeutic baths and inhalations. Before the closure it ran from about mid-April to mid-November (April 15 to November 16 in 2024), with treatments in the mornings, Monday to Saturday.
• The monumental pool: a huge open-air pool in the Bagni quarter, built in 1932 and split in two by a walkway, with about 7,500 m³ of water. It was a summer favourite with local families.
• Stabilimento Regina: an older cure centre in the Bagni quarter, also owned by the company.

Like most Italian terme, the cure centre was mainly medical. Italians with a family doctor’s prescription could do one 12-session cycle a year under the national health service (SSN) for a €55 ticket, or €3.10 for those who qualified.

What is happening now

In January 2026, Piedmont’s president Alberto Cirio told a meeting in Acqui that the Region was ready to set up a mixed public-private company to run the town’s thermal system, with private operators chosen by tender. In May 2026 the regional council approved an extraordinary grant of €250,000 a year for 2026, 2027 and 2028 to the Comune di Acqui Terme, to help restart thermal cures under the SSN.

At that point, Acquinews reported, the Comune was still trying to agree a lease of the Nuove Terme building and equipment with the owner, and the talks had stalled over its length. The cure centre was described as closed since December. Later 2026 coverage still talks about the future of thermal cures in Acqui, not a reopening. Check Acquinews or call the Comune before you plan a trip around the spa.

What you can still see

La Bollente is the reason to stop. The water comes out steaming all year in Piazza della Bollente, in the old town, under its marble shrine. Do not touch the flow: at 166°F74.5°C it scalds. A popular travel article from September 2026 still points visitors to it.

The town has other Roman traces. Fifteen piers and four arches of the Roman aqueduct stand by the Ponte Carlo Alberto over the Bormida, on the way to the Bagni quarter. The aqueduct was originally about 13 km long and brought water from the Erro stream. Remains of a Roman pool lie along Corso Bagni, and the Castello dei Paleologi houses the archaeological museum. The Romanesque cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is in the old centre.

Getting there

Acqui Terme is in the province of Alessandria. By car, leave the A26 motorway at Alessandria Sud and follow the SS30 south to Acqui. There are trains from Alessandria and from Genoa, and buses from Alessandria. The old cure centre is on Via XX Settembre near the station; La Bollente is a short walk away in the old town; the Bagni quarter is across the Bormida.

When to go

There is no soaking season while the spa is closed. La Bollente is worth seeing at any time, and it steams most visibly on cold mornings. Autumn is harvest time in the Monferrato vineyards around town, and Brachetto d’Acqui is the local sweet red wine.

Where to stay nearby

The Grand Hotel Nuove Terme is closed. Acqui has other hotels and B&Bs in town, and the Monferrato and Langhe wine country around it has many farm stays. Alessandria is the nearest larger city.

Safety notes

• La Bollente is scalding. The water leaves the ground at 166°F74.5°C. Keep children back from the flow.
• Do not trespass. The closed spa buildings and the abandoned pool are private property.
• Check before you go. The situation is changing. A new operator or a lease deal could restart cures, so look for recent local news before you travel.