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Royal Baths of Valdieri, Mercantour National Park and rock engravings

Terme di Valdieri spa is located in Valle Gesso, already known in Roman times and officially built in 1857. The very location of this highly-appreciated establishment is a popular holiday destination and is home to Valderia Botanical Garden, in the heart of the Alpi Marittime Regional Park (which covers almost 70.000 acres). The park used to be a hunting reserve of the Savoy family, but today it offers a wide range of tourist excursions among beech woods, larch woods, rhododendron and violet plants, as well as endemic species such as Saxifraga florulenta.
It is possible to spot protected animal species such as chamois and marmots. Eagles and bearded vultures (species threatened of extinction) can be observed as well, thanks to their reintroduction which was part of a European project.

The first spa in Valdieri was built on the right bank of the Gesso Stream in 1755, but later destroyed by a fire in 1794; it was restored at the beginning of the XIX century and completed in 1814 with the new buildings on the left bank of the stream.

The current complex, consists of three pavilions with caves and steam stoves, reaction chambers, two buildings for aerosols and inhalations, a gynaecological pavilion and one for algae and mud treatments, including a beauty centre and several massage rooms. Everything was built inside a large a large park of pines (Pinus spp ) and centuries-old beeches ( Fagus spp. ). State-of-the-art equipment for therapeutic purpose is abundantly available, as well as thermal pools, a gymnasium, a tennis courts, and some sulfur caves dug into the wall of Mount Matto and reaching the temperature of 114.8 F°.
The water commonly used at Terme Valdieri reaches 149 F°, with low mineral content, rich in sulfur and sulphate-chloride-sodium.

A natural phenomenon typical of this spa is that of algae originating from a perfectly balanced mix of water, surface temperature, and the amount of light on the stone stairways where the water flows. These algae are applied as sludge, thus making the most of their sulfur content.

Mercantour National Park and rock carvings

Near Valderi, there’s the Mercantour National Park, which features thousands of rock carvings, magical and mysterious symbols, and images of ancient everyday life: there are animals with long horns, weapons and arrowheads, flock enclosures or villages, as well as oxen, yoked to the plough. Those are the traces left by the ancient populations of shepherd-gatherers who lived on the slopes of the Maritime Alps between the late Neolithic and the Iron Age.

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