Fiuggi - Italy

Fiuggi

Fiuggi is a comune (municipality) in the province of Frosinone in the region of Lazio in central Italy.Fiuggi, originally called Anticoli di Campagna, gained fame as early as the 14th century, when Pope Boniface VIII claimed his kidney stones had been healed by the mineral waters from the nearby Fiuggi spring. Two centuries later Michelangelo also extolled the virtues of the water that cured him of what he called "the only kind of stone I couldn't love." Soon Acqua di Fiuggi was being sent in bottles to all of Europe's royalty. Not until the turn of the 20th Century did it become fashionable to make pilgrimages to spa towns, and it was around this time that the King of Italy renamed Anticoli in honor of its most celebrated attraction.

From the 16th to the 19th century, Fiuggi and many nearby hill towns were part of the Papal States. Unlike its neighbors, Anticoli di Campagna provided a source of revenue through the sales of its miraculous waters, and so it was often "bestowed" upon noble families in payment for services rendered. Sometimes these aristocrats didn't bother to visit the town, but they always sent a delegate to make sure none or few of the profits stayed in town. These upper-class outsiders slowly covered the original medieval walls with the painted plaster similar to what is found in present day Rome, thus changing almost the entire appearance of the town. Today a very active group of local residents is slowly restoring the stone façades in an effort to restore the city to its medieval form.

In May 6, 1916 the Rome and Fiuggi Rail Road was opened for service; the service was closed in 1982.

Fiuggi: map