Lazio · Frosinone
Fiuggi
The Ernici-mountain thermal town where Boniface VIII and Michelangelo both came to dissolve kidney stones with the oligomineral spring water.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Visiting
- Best time
- All year
- By car
- 1 h 14 min from Rome
- Population
- 10,195
When to visit
Best · All year
- J8°
- F11°
- M12°
- A14°
- M19°
- J25°
- J29°
- A28°
- S23°
- O18°
- N13°
- D9°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Fiuggi sits in two parts on the slope of the Ernici mountains, about eighty kilometers by road east of Rome. The upper town, the medieval Anticoli at 747 meters, is the original village; the lower town, Fiuggi Fonte at 621 meters, grew up around the springs in the early twentieth century, and in 1911 the comune of Anticoli di Campagna took the name Fiuggi. The Acqua di Fiuggi is the reason for the second town: an oligomineral water that runs through ancient volcanic deposits and has been used since the fourteenth century to dissolve kidney stones.
Pope Boniface VIII attested to the cure in his own case; Michelangelo wrote that it had cured him of the only kind of stone he could not love. The Fonte Bonifacio VIII and Fonte Anticolana stabilimenti, set in landscaped park grounds, are the heart of the lower town. The upper medieval centro storico has stone houses on narrow stepped streets, the Collegiata of San Pietro, and views east across the valley toward Anagni.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 1 h 17 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 2 h 2 min away.
By car from the center of Naples 2 h 6 min or Pescara 2 h 27 min.
Coming by train into Roma Termini? Fiuggi is about 1 h 13 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Rome Fiumicino airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Fonte Bonifacio VIII
Main thermal establishment in landscaped grounds, named for the pope cured of kidney stones by the water in the late thirteenth century.
Fonte Anticolana
Second thermal establishment a short walk from the first, with its own pavilions and tasting fountains in a planted park.
Centro storico di Anticoli
Upper medieval town at 747 meters, the original village before the springs town grew up below, with stone houses and the Collegiata.
Collegiata di San Pietro
Main church of the upper town, restructured several times since the medieval foundation, with works of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century devotional art.
Greenway dell'Aniene
Disused Roma-Fiuggi railway converted to a cycle path between Fiuggi and Paliano, through Acuto, Piglio and Serrone, part of the regional Greenways network.
From the guides
Where to stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Palazzo FiuggiHotel
Palazzo Fiuggi carries a La Liste score of 90.
Living here
Could you live here?
Fiuggi meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 10,195 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Frosinone, a city of 43,015, is 39 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 10,195, up 0.8% since 2015
- Nearest city Frosinone, 39 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Alatri, 14 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €650 to €1,000 per m² to buy, €2.90 to €6.80 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 50% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Rome Ciampino airport (CIA), 1 h 1 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Rome, 1 h 14 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Albania and Ukraine, against 9% across Italy. 20 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom and the United States. There are 270 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 35% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Frosinone province ranks 85th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Alatri, 14 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Latina, 47 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 62 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Children's Castle International, 44 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds between 0.7% and 0.8% to your income tax, depending on your income, with nothing due on income under €15,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Lazio spends about €2,270 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €647 a year for water, on the Lazio average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 17% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
This is a thermal town: terme operate here.
Known for
ACQUA DI FIUGGI
Oligomineral spring water bottled and drunk in the resort since the late nineteenth century, used to dissolve calcium-oxalate kidney stones.
BONIFACE VIII
The pope of the Outrage of Anagni attested in his own case to the water's effect on kidney stones; Michelangelo later confirmed the same.
BELLE ÉPOQUE
Lower town built around the springs from 1911, with Liberty-style buildings, the 1913 Palazzo della Fonte grand hotel, and landscaped thermal parks.
Common questions
- What is Fiuggi known for?
- Fiuggi is the Ernici-mountain thermal town where Boniface VIII and Michelangelo both came to dissolve kidney stones with the oligomineral spring water.
- Where is Fiuggi?
- Fiuggi is a comune in the province of Frosinone, in Lazio, at 747 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Fiuggi?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Rome Ciampino (CIA), about 1 h 1 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Naples to Fiuggi?
- About 2 h 6 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Fiuggi?
- Any month of the year works. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Fiuggi?
- Caramanico Terme, Viterbo and Monte Sant'Angelo.
- How many people live in Fiuggi?
- 10,195 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Fiuggi a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Fiuggi is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Frosinone, is 39 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Alatri, 14 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 50% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 747 m
- Population: 10,195
- Surface area: 32.98 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Similar
Towns like Fiuggi
Caramanico Terme
Province: Pescara
both spa towns · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
- Written about. No. 66.
Viterbo
Province: Viterbo
both spa towns · both over 10,000 people
Monte Sant'Angelo
Province: Foggia
both over 10,000 people · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
- Written about. No. 43.
Montepulciano
Province: Siena
both over 10,000 people · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Brunico
Province: Bolzano
both over 10,000 people · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Ariano Irpino
Province: Avellino
both over 10,000 people · both high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
The letter
Fiuggi is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Fiuggi comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 95 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.