In this valley the villages changed their names, taking that of their own church's saint. Furva, or Furvaplana, became Sant'Antonio; Frodaglio is now San Nicolò; Zordo is San Gottardo; Magliavacca is Santa Caterina; and the houses scattered on the slopes of the Reit, once simply called i Mont, became Madonna dei Monti. The old name they all gave up, however, stayed attached to the valley: Valfurva.
At Santa Caterina, in 1698, the parson don Baldassare Bellotti found two springs: one sulphurous and one ferruginous, sharp to the taste, which here they called akua forta. Its fame crossed the mountains, nobles arrived by coach over the Mortirolo and Gavia passes, the spring was covered by a wooden pavilion in the Gothic style, and in 1835 a plant opened that bottled the akua forta and exported it abroad. Then the spa trade ended: the pavilions became peat driers and were demolished in 1952, and the spring was lost into the water table. Today a small water museum reproduces its shape. Two thousand seven hundred and three inhabitants.
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Near Valfurva
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Valfurva, but an easy day trip away.