Everything You Need to Know About Italian Water

Like Italian wine, it is something to be savored.

During my errant youth, which is right around the time humans invented fire and the wheel, I used to debase my tastebuds with gallons of Diet Coke. I drank it in the morning on an empty stomach. I drank it before and after my workouts. I drank it with (stop and marvel at the irony) my fettucine alfredo, which pretty much napalmed my innards.

If you’ve seen what that stuff does to a car battery, you know it ain’t playin’.

Diet Coke is way too sweet, at least to my admittedly less debased tastebuds of today, but it has more carbonated “bite” than a junkyard dog. I love bite. And yet, I woke up one morning about fifteen years ago and reluctantly admitted to myself that I was drinking far too much of it.

I had a Diet Coke problem. And there’s no Twelve-Step program for that.

So I cold-turkeyed myself off soda and switched to sparkling water, specifically this brand. It’s “naturally flavored with other natural flavors.” Says so right on the can.

By U.S. law, those “natural flavors” don’t have to be disclosed to the consumer, a loophole most water manufacturers make full use of. I wasn’t wild about the stuff, but it was better than pouring carbonated acid down my pie hole. I bought entire cases of H.E.B. brand sparkling water and congratulated myself on still having any stomach lining left.

Then I went to Italy for the first time and discovered what real water tastes like.

Most people who come to Italy rightly rave about the wine, which I’m sure is quite delicious. John tells me that it is, and I believe him. The thing is … and I’m almost afraid to confess this in public for fear that people might hunt me down with torches and pitchforks … I hate the taste of wine. All alcohol, really. It might have something to do with being a supertaster—which is merely a hyperbolic name given to folks like me who are extremely sensitive to strong or bitter flavors. Coffee, for instance. Unless it’s a well-constructed cappuccino, I can only drink mine with cream and sugar. Cilantro? Forget it. Hot sauce? You must be kidding.

So, when I bought my first bottle of acqua frizzante (mineral water to which carbon dioxide has been added), my tastebuds started singing the Halleluiah chorus. There’s just something magical about having bubbles violently erupt in your mouth. And then when I learned that in Italy, especially the farther south you go where the earth is highly volcanic and dotted with springs, you can drink naturally carbonated water … I knew I’d been ruined for H.E.B. sparking water “naturally flavored with other natural flavors” forever.

Like, gross. Seriously.

On a really hot day in Italy, nothing gets it done like cold sparkling water. Tap water is appreciably better here than in the United States, especially that found in my hometown of Houston. Drinking tap water in Houston was considered an extreme sport even before those pesky investigations showing that it contained Chromium 6 and radioactive isotopes. Let’s give it up for no zoning, regulations, or federal oversight!

In Italy, the quality of tap water is more consistent, but the taste varies. Depending on the time of year, ours smells like chlorine. I know plenty of people who’ve been drinking it their entire lives, however, with no ill effects. I would, too, if I could get past the chlorine smell. That supertaster nonsense? Having a nose like a bloodhound’s comes with the package.

So, I’ve become a true connoisseur of Italian bottled water.

Italy has literally hundreds of healthy name-brand mineral waters that all taste different and “alive.” Not so with American water. To me, American water tastes dead, flat, denatured. But Italy’s waters flow from underground caverns where minerals in the rock impart a unique taste. When you go to a restaurant in Italy and ask for water, almost all of the time that water will come in a bottle. The waiter will ask you whether you want flat water (acqua naturale) or “con gas” (acqua frizzante). You will develop a preference rather quickly.

Like wine, Italian waters are bottled and sold not far from where they were sourced. In this part of Umbria, that water is Acqua Amerino, and it is delicious. What I like about it, besides the taste, is the fact that it’s low in sodium and naturally occurring nitrates. It also has diuretic properties, which isn’t something Nestle’s Poland Springs water can boast of.

For the record, Poland Springs tastes like the bottom of a bird cage. An ashy bird cage. Also, Nestle changed its corporate name to Blue Triton brands, but it’s still Nestle (which means EVIL in any language), so don’t be fooled.

What I most enjoy about Italian waters is their different health benefits. Some are better at helping you digest food. Others regulate blood pressure, muscle contractions, and bone health. All have their individual claim to fame and assorted fan clubs.

Here then are some of the major players.

I like Levissima. It has a distinctive flavor, slightly bitter perhaps, but a smooth drinkability. And it’s an oligomineral water, which means there are dissolved minerals in it resulting naturally from its springs in Italy’s snow-covered alps. It also flushes uric acid out of the urinary tract.

Ferrarelle has a marvelous origin story. It bubbles up through layers of a dormant volcano in Caserta, a province in Southern Italy. It’s also naturally effervescent, sort of like me after I’ve been fed and properly caffeinated. That means the earth delivers it up with its own gentle carbonation—not the rough bubbles I prefer in my acqua frizzante, but mellow and pleasing. Higher in sodium, silica, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, Ferrarelle has its own distinctive taste that may not be for everyone, but if it arrives at my table, I’ll drink it, especially if it’s slightly chilled.

Let me tell you something else about this girl. This girl will drink her some cold San Benedetto acqua frizzante. It is hands down my favorite water. Why? I can’t tell you, but I do know it tastes light and pure, is low in sodium and moderately diuretic. It’s also sourced from Parco del Sile in the Venice region. Is it the result of sorcery? Perhaps.

I do like Acqua Panna, which like its parent company of San Pellegrino (another water I enjoy) is widely available in the United States. It’s sourced out of Tuscany, about 900 meters above the sea. When I go back to the States, I have been known to hit every supermarket just to find Italian water. I am that shameless. I once drove twenty-five miles in Houston to get a decent cup of non-Starbucks coffee. Am I proud of this? No.

Lete is the highest selling naturally effervescent mineral water in Italy. Their springs are located in the southern Apennines near Molise. It is widely considered to be a one-of-a-kind mineral water, providing low sodium and just the right balance of bicarbonates and calcium. I wouldn’t turn up my nose at any brand of Italian water, but to me, Lete tastes a little heavy and mineral-y, much like its competitor in the Viterbo region, Acqua di Nepi. These waters never settle well in my stomach. I would also think twice before drinking any mineral water on an empty one. A mild, non-fizzy water, perhaps, but nothing that’s going to make demands on your digestion.

Many Italian villages have their own water dispensaries called Casa dell’Acqua where, for as little as a dime, you can fill a jug with flat or fizzy water. In the morning, you’ll find the nonnas there, chatting while they fill their bottles. It’s very convenient. It’s also “zero kilometri,” which means no one had to drive it in from another location.

John and I usually venture out at three or four in the morning to get our zero kilometer water. Like vampires.

Casa dell’acqua kiosks mustn’t be confused with actual drinking fountains, of which there are plenty. If the water is drinkable, there will be a sign that reads “acqua potabile.” If the water isn’t drinkable, the sign will read “acqua non potabile.”

Many of these fountains have spouts that resemble a large drooping nose, which is why the Italians call them nasoni (big noses). Some of the most beautiful ones can be found in Rome.

When in Italy, resist the temptation to ice your water. Ice dilutes the dissolved minerals and carbonation. Trust me, after a week, you will become the same kind of hydro-sommelier that I am.

The flavors here are like nowhere else on earth, thanks to rain, rocks, and about six inches of topsoil.

Copyright © 2022 Stacey Eskelin

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