Bagni di Lucca, as its name implies, is famous for its waters. In the sixteenth century Montaigne, after vainly searching throughout Europe for a beverage that could cure his ills, found it at Bagni di Lucca which he declared were the most efficacious waters he’d ever drunk. Queen Victoria had the waters imported to Buckingham palace as she found they solved many of her gynaecological problems.

I wonder how many residents and visitors to Bagni di Lucca today regularly take its waters. There’s no way one can buy a bottle of the tincture since it’s never been commercialised like the stuff from many other Italian watering holes such as San Pellegrino, for example.

Is it because there’s something dubious about Bagni’s waters’ mineral contents I wonder? I’m sure that Bagni di Lucca could make a mint out of selling its most famous natural product and help subsidise council services, improve the lamentable state of many of its roads and even use it as a mixer in its own brand of cocktails.

La Cova (meaning ‘the nest’) is the usual place where people stop and drink the waters which are here very hot testifying to their provenance from deep within the earth’s core (and not necessarily because of anything volcanic as a geologist friend told me).

The heat of the waters may put some people off from drinking them but it’s been very useful to me when passing that part of Bagni di Lucca in winter on a scooter when the cold can really freeze one’s hands in spite of the thick gloves one is wearing.

The waters can also put into the fridge and their efficacy is in no way diminished if drunk cold.

What is the waters’ efficacy then? A plaque installed in the foyer of the Bagni alla Villa and reproduced at the back of the pond in front of the Circolo dei Forestieri explains all:

ACRI DE VILLA BALNEI HEC PRECIPUE SUNT VIRTUTES. CONFERT CUNCTIS CAPITIS MEMBRIS.CURAT OMNES STOMACI MORBOS. APETITUM EXCITAT. DIGESTIONEM PROCURAT. VOMITUM RESTRINGIT. SANAT CUNCTA EPATIS VITIA. EPATIS ET VENARUM OPILATIONEM APERIT. COLOREM OPTIMUM FACIT. CONFERT PASSIONIBUS SPLENIS. SANAT ULCERA PULMONIS. MUNDAT RENES. LAPIDEM MINUIT. ARENULAS PROHIBET. MACROS IMPINGUAT. LEPRAM CURAT NON CONFIRMATAM. BIBITA ANTIQUAS FEBRES EXPELLIT. ET MATRICIS ETIAM ANTERIUS CHRISTERIZATA. TRIGINTA BALNEATUR DIEBUS OCTO VEL DECEM BIBITUR PURGATIONE PREMISSA. A CONTRARIIS CAVEATUR. TOTO CORPORE ULCERA SANAT CUR. DO. BER. COMM. VI VI MCCCCLXXI. KL. MAII

The almost dog Latin is quite easy to understand but here is a very rough translation – or least what I can understand of it, not having done any Latin since school.

These are the virtues of the waters: They cure all illnesses of the stomach. They excite the appetite. They help the digestion. They restrict vomiting. They heal all stages of complaints of the liver and veins. They give a good colour to one’s complexion. They contribute to the passions. They heal an enlarged spleen. They cure ulcers and lungs. They take away kidney stones. Fevers are alleviated. They heal ulcers throughout one’s body.

1471

I would be most interested in knowing of visitors or local people who regularly take the waters and whether their life and health has improved as a result. I’m going to be testing the waters myself with a glass a day for the next month and will let you know of any changes they may wreak upon my own well-being…