What is Acqui Terme known for?

Sulphurous spring rising at 74.5 degrees in the central piazza, the same waters that drew the Romans to Aquae Statiellae. Fifteen pillars and four arches across the Bormida, one of the best preserved imperial aqueducts in northern Italy. Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG, a sparkling red dessert wine produced from at least 97% Brachetto grapes on the surrounding Monferrato hills.

When is the best time to visit Acqui Terme?

All year. Acqui Terme runs on a thermal calendar, which means almost no closed season. The spa hotels operate through the cold months and the baths fill more reliably in November than in August. April through June is the gentle window: green Monferrato hills, mild evenings, the Bollente piazza busy without the August press. July and August touch the mid-thirties and the centro storico thins after lunch. September and October are the harvest months, when the surrounding cantine open for Brachetto and the truffle stalls appear in the markets. Winter is quiet but functional: the thermal trade keeps the town awake, the cathedral stays cool, and the Bollente steams visibly in cold air.

Where is Acqui Terme?

Acqui Terme is a comune in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont region of Italy, about 73 kilometers from Genova.

How do I get to Acqui Terme?

From Genova, Acqui Terme is roughly 73 km by road.

Piedmont · Alessandria

Acqui Terme

A Roman spa town on the Bormida, where a sulphurous spring still surfaces at 74.5 degrees under an 1870 pavilion.

Known for

LA BOLLENTE
Sulphurous spring rising at 74.5 degrees in the central piazza, the same waters that drew the Romans to Aquae Statiellae.
ROMAN AQUEDUCT
Fifteen pillars and four arches across the Bormida, one of the best preserved imperial aqueducts in northern Italy.
BRACHETTO
Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG, a sparkling red dessert wine produced from at least 97% Brachetto grapes on the surrounding Monferrato hills.
PROTECTED PRODUCTS
The commune also lies inside the Alta Langa DOCG, Asti DOCG, Barbera d'Asti DOCG and Toma Piemontese DOP production zones.

When to visit

Best · All year

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Guido d'Acqui, seconda domenica di luglio

Why come

Acqui Terme sits fifty kilometers north of Genova, in the southern Monferrato hills, on the Bormida river. The Romans built their settlement here around hot sulphur springs that Pliny the Elder rated among the best in the empire, and the town's shape still follows that founding logic: baths and spring at the center, the aqueduct running out to the valley, the castle set above on higher ground where the Marquises of Monferrato later took the high point for defense. The old town gathers close around the piazza where the water surfaces; the castle and its museum sit apart and above, holding what was dug up from the baths, theatre and amphitheatre below.

The surrounding hills, meanwhile, grow the grapes for Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG, a low-alcohol sparkling red, and the town holds three separate designations at once: Spighe Verdi, Comuni Termali, Città del Vino. The thermal trade runs year-round while the wine and the hills set the pace for everything else, so the town reads as two economies sharing one square: water pulled from the ground below, and wine brought down from the slopes above.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Acqui Terme’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

What to see

Acquedotto Romano
The structure originally carried water 13 km from the Erro stream to feed the baths of Aquae Statiellae, and still spans the valley floor intact.
La Bollente
Octagonal marble pavilion designed by Giovanni Ceruti, its columns framing the steam that rises off the water even in the middle of the piazza.
Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta
Romanesque cathedral built on the Latin cross plan over an earlier 10th-century church, consecrated by Bishop Guido.
Castello dei Paleologi
Late medieval castle of the Marquises of Monferrato, set above the centro storico with the old town's roofs and the river valley visible below.
Museo Archeologico
Civic collection housed inside the castle, holding finds recovered from the Roman baths, theatre and amphitheatre that once served the spring.

The slow-trip planner

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Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

Mercatino degli Sgaientòmarket
usually held in August. Langhe.net - Sagre & Fiere in Langa e Roero

Living here

Population 18,967
In-betweeni
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Genoa, 1 h 3 min drive
Regional capital Torino, 1 h 39 min drive

Thermal baths in town: Stabilimento Curativo Nuove Terme.

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 156 m
Population: 18,967
Surface area: 33.3 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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