The term ‘spa’ is sometimes said to come from an acronym of the Latin phrase ‘sanus per aquam’, meaning ‘health through water’, but while that’s a neat idea, it isn’t true. The Romans usually didn’t even leave spaces between words when they wrote them, so there wasn’t much opportunity for inventing acronyms. It’s what they call a ‘backronym’.

The term ‘spa’ actually comes from the name of the Belgian town of Spa, which was already known for its mineral springs in Roman times and which the Romans knew as Aquae Spadanae. No one really knows why they called it Spadanae, but today there are spas all across Europe – and thermal spas in every region of Italy, each with its own character and medical or wellness offer.