Terme di Lurisia

Cold water, not a hot spring

Start with the water, because it decides whether this trip makes sense for you. Lurisia’s springs are cold. The institute lists both of its springs, Garbarino and Santa Barbara, at 48°F+9°C where they emerge. What made the place famous was radioactivity, not heat. If you want to sit in naturally hot water in the Italian north-west, Terme di Premia in the Ossola valleys is the nearest real option.

Terme di Lurisia is first of all a medical spa. It is accredited with the health ministry and the national health service as a top-category thermal institute, and most people who come are doing a course of inhalations, mud treatments or a drinking cure. There is a wellness side too, built into a cave behind the main building, and that is the part a casual visitor can book.

What to expect

Lurisia is a small resort village of about 200 residents at 720 m (2,360 ft), at the foot of Monte Pigna in the Ligurian Alps. It belongs to the municipality of Roccaforte Mondovì in the province of Cuneo. The spa building on Via delle Terme sits at the edge of the village, with wooded slopes behind it.

The wellness circuit is called the Antro delle Acque. It runs through three zones at different temperatures. The acclimatisation area is held at 77-82°F25-28°C air temperature, a warm alcove at 95-100°F35-38°C and a hot steam grotto at 108-113°F42-45°C. Along the way there is a multi-jet thermal hydromassage tub, a Finnish sauna, an infrared sauna, a Kneipp path and a relaxation room. The operator does not give the water temperature of the tub. Since the spring water is 48°F9°C, it is heated.

The longer packages add a regular pool and a salt room. Plan on two and a half to three hours for the basic circuit.

The medical side uses the two springs differently. The institute uses Garbarino, a low-mineral water, for gout, arthritis (with mud), skin conditions such as psoriasis, and inhaled treatment of the airways and middle ear. It uses Santa Barbara, which is very low in minerals, as a diuretic drinking water. There is also a bar with cold food and a shop selling cosmetics made with the water.

The radioactivity story

Miners working the old slate quarries at Nivolano, above the village, found the spring in the early 1900s. In 1913 a geologist identified deposits of autunite, a uranium mineral, in the rock. In August 1918 Marie Curie came to Lurisia at the invitation of the Italian war ministry to assess the material, and she confirmed that the water gave off radiation. The first spa building opened in August 1940.

What was a selling point in 1918 became a problem later. ARPA Piemonte, the regional environment agency, measured radon in the raw Garbarino water at up to 25,000 Bq/l, far above European guidance. In 2000 the health ministry banned the water for drinking and spa use. The institute then installed a system that strips the radon out of the Garbarino water and mixes it with low-radon water from a second Santa Barbara source higher up the slope. A 2006 ARPA study of the uranium content found that the raw water would exceed the legal annual dose, but the mixed water actually served at the drinking fountains did not, and agreed a monitoring plan with the local health authority.

The bottling plant that sells Lurisia mineral water and soft drinks was bought by Coca-Cola HBC in 2019. The spa was not part of that sale.

Getting there

Lurisia is in southern Piedmont, about 15 km (9 miles) south of Mondovì as the crow flies, and 21 km (13 miles) south-east of Cuneo. Mondovì is on the A6 Turin-Savona motorway. A Piedmont spa guide puts the drive from Mondovì at about 20 minutes.

The spa is at Via delle Terme 60, at the edge of the village. Lurisia is a dead end for traffic: Italian Wikipedia notes that no road continues over to France, about 13 km away. A car is the practical way to get here.

When to go

The spa opens for a season, not all year. In 2026 it opened in April. The contact page says it stays open until December 2026, while other pages on the same site say January 6, 2027. If you plan a December visit, phone first.

It is closed on Sundays. On weekdays the wellness area closes at 3 p.m., so arrive in the morning. Saturday is the only day it stays open into the evening (until 6 p.m.), which also makes it the busiest. Italian Wikipedia notes that the village’s population of about 200 swells to several thousand in the summer and winter holidays.

In winter Lurisia is also a small ski resort. The Monte Pigna lifts serve about 40 km of runs between roughly 800 m and 1,768 m.

Prices and booking

Prices on the operator’s wellness page in October 2026 (the page does not state a year):

• Antro delle Acque: €50 for about 3 hours. Add €10 for a thermal aperitif in the hydromassage tub.
• Antro Relax: €69 with a 25-minute massage, €92 with a 50-minute massage.
• Rituale degli Elementi: €80, including the regular pool and salt room.
• Percorso di Rinascita: €100.
• Private cave for two: €320 per couple, with wine and snacks.

Booking is compulsory for the Antro delle Acque. Call 0174 683421 or email [email protected]. The space can also be booked out for private events, another reason not to turn up on spec. Bring a swimsuit. The operator advises a medical check before your first sauna session, and asks pregnant or breastfeeding guests to say so when booking.

For the medical cures, Italian residents are entitled to one thermal cycle a year under the national health service, with a prescription from their family doctor and the standard co-payment. Foreign visitors pay privately; ask the institute for the treatment price list.

Where to stay nearby

The spa itself has no rooms. Lurisia village has a few hotels and holiday flats, including the Hotel Reale with its own small spa, about 800 m from the institute. Mondovì, about 20 minutes away, has more choice and a historic upper town worth a walk. Cuneo is the nearest city.

Safety notes

• Saunas and steam: the hot grotto reaches 108-113°F42-45°C and the Finnish sauna is hotter. Drink water, cool down between rounds and skip the hot zones if you have heart or blood-pressure problems.
• Radioactivity: the water used in the institute is treated and monitored. Do not drink from or bathe in any untreated source in the old quarry area.
• Medical cures: these start with a consultation with the spa doctor, who can refuse or adjust treatment.