Taking the waters: Piedmont spas

Natural spring therapy

Even late at night, when all the visitors have gone to bed, the small town of Acqui Terme is never completely quiet. The sound of rushing water provides a constant background noise: fountains, a water feature in the main square, natural springs gurgling underground.

Acqui Terme has been renowned as a spa town since Roman times and a few relics of those days still linger: four arches from the old aqueduct and the ruins of a bathhouse. But the focal point of the town is La Bollente, a natural spring which spews out hot water and steam at the rate of 500 litres a minute. It is encased in an elaborate marble structure that dates from the late 19th century, when Acqui Terme was one of Europe's most fashionable spas.

The mineral properties of La Bollente still attract visitors to the town, although now they can only be sampled at the Grand Hotel Nuove Terme, an impressive belle époque establishment that dominates the main Piazza Italia. But there are plenty of other springs in town which are used at the main thermal resort, La Regina. Now a modern complex that combines a hotel, treatment centre, and fitness area, it still uses traditional methods of treatment for ailments ranging from arthritis to varicose veins. Many of these therapies involve thermal mud, although it is no longer dug from around the springs as it once was. Now, La Regina makes its own, using a mixture of fine clay dust that is soaked in spring water for six months before being transferred to a system of tanks and tubes so that it can be dispensed in every treatment room.

Thermal treatments at spa centres like La Regina have been part of the medical mainstream in Italy for years, but increasingly the concept of the fitness centre, or "beauty farm" as it is known even in Italian, is becoming popular. Hotel Acqui, a pleasant place in the town centre, has its own centre, a well-equipped area with Jacuzzi, sauna and several treatment rooms. They don't use mud here: the latest treatment on offer is chocolate therapy, a skin-peeling, massage and wrap involving a (non-edible) form of chocolate whose anti-oxidising properties are supposed to stimulate circulation.

Elsewhere in the region, other spas offer their own specialities. As befits a place in the wine country, the Relais San Maurizio in San Stefano Belbo in the Langhe region has a Vinotherapie spa. Its therapists all trained in Bordeaux, and treatments use extracts of grape pips, whose anti-ageing qualities are good for the skin. At the Mineralia Spa at the Pragelato Village Resort, mountain water is the main ingredient, used for water massage, the Finnish sauna and the Turkish bath.

Grand Hotel Nuove Terme Piazza Italia 1, Acqui Terme (00 39 0144 58555; www.antichedimore.com)

La Regina Thermal Resort Via Einaudi, Regione Bagni, Acqui Terme (00 39 0144 329074; www.reginaterme.com)

Hotel Acqui Corso Bagni 46, Acqui Terme (00 39 0144 322693; www.hotelacqui.it)

Relais San Maurizio Localita San Maurizio 39, Santo Stefano Belbo (00 39 0141 841900; www.relaissanmaurizio.it)

Pragelato Village Resort and Spa Via Rohrbach, Frazione Plan, Pragelato (00 39 0122 740011; www.pragelatoresort.it)