Is it safe to drink the water from the fountains found all over the older parts of Rome?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 22 Jul, 2023
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Assuming that decorative fountains with statues and a large water basins are also meant by the word “fountain”, these are not a potable source – in history, the water must have been taken from a high-level placed water source, which would give power to the fountain, and that source might be a river or a pond or anything else.
Modern fountains like this one are recycling their own water instead, so it gets dirty over time, that implies it’s not drinkable either.
Based on your question, I would assume you are not a native European. I would feel just as surprised if I went outside of Europe and someone told me I must not drink from a certain fountain, just as you would when you see tons of people drinking from fountains everywhere. Fountains in Europe are actually very common, and I believe there are 3 types of water you can run into, while drinking from them.
You could come across normal water, just like the one you would drink home. It has been filtered by the city’s household water suppliers.
The other kind is spring water – coming from the mountains, though in most cases fountains are built at the site where a spring is rushing out locally. It is safe to drink, non-filtered natural water.
The third kind is also very common for me, since I come from Bulgaria, though not as common everywhere in Europe – mineral springs. Just as normal springs, fountains are build around the place where such a spring would emerge, but it is actual mineral-rich water you can drink for free!
The only article I could find about this in English is this rather short one.
It says that only about 30% of the mineral spring are utilized, and this would most likely be due to the rest occurring at hard to reach places. We do however have huge mineral fountains in a few cities where there are above the average by water debit mineral springs. People with multiple 10 liter (~2.62 gallon) water tubs are often sighted at these places, where they stockpile free mineral water for the week.
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Don’t directly drink with your mouth; use a bottle or put your finger one the spout and the water will flow up from the small hole.
Ah, the large noses. I did last year. Had no issues.
There are approximately 2,500–2,800 nasoni in Rome, supplying citizens and tourists with free drinking water.
The water coming from the nasoni is the same supplied to the city’s households and thus safe for drinking.
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