The origins of the Lurisia thermal baths and mineral-water bottling plant lie in stone quarries and the water’s amazing curative properties.

The source of Lurisia water can be found a few kilometers from the Piedmontese town of Mondovì, in the village of Lurisia, near Roccoforte. At the foot of the Alps a valley winds through forests of chestnut, fir, beech and larch, framed by snow-capped peaks. These mountains, the Maritime and Cottian Alps, are a real paradise for mineral waters due to the specific nature of the terrain. Here in centuries past one of the main occupations was extracting slabs of slate. In fact it was the stonecutters of the Nivolano quarry who first discovered the springs and realized the water’s curative qualities. The hard work led to many injuries, and the stonecutters soon learned that washing their wounds in the water from the springs in the Lurisia mine would speed up the healing process.

At the start of the 20th century Davide Garbarino started studying the medicinal properties of the springs inside the stone quarries. These investigations provided scientific proof of the waters’ curative powers, thanks to the micro-emanation characteristics of the two springs, and in 1920 a spa was built there, run by the Garbarino and Sciaccaluga families until 1978. Illustrious figures from Italian industry and politics came to take the waters at the baths: Italian president Giovanni Gronchi was a regular visitor. Scientists such as Marie Curie arrived to study further the micro-emanating properties of the springs, and for many years designer and architect Giò Ponti also came to rest and restore his health at Lurisia.

In 1950, thanks to the work of the families’ daughters, the Garbarinos and Sciaccalugas successfully started bottling water from the Santa Barbara spring. Then as now the water was extremely light, with the low percentage of sodium making it highly compatible with our bodies.