An ancient land where tradition and modernity dwell, ancient gestures and new trends, flavors and research. Bormio has been tourism for centuries, once a land of passage, now a land of stay.
The origins of the name Bormio is still controversial. A first thesis is the derivation from the German Warm (hot) in relation to the thermal waters while a second orientation believes that the derivation is from the Gallic divinities.
"Borvo" or "Bormo" to which numerous spa resorts were dedicated at the time. The first certain colonization of the territory dates back to the Bronze Age by the Rhaetian people. Fundamental crossroads of the Alpine passes that lead to the heart of Europe, Bormio has always experienced great prosperity and independence, also demonstrated by the issuing of the Magna Carta Libertatis Burmii.
"At the top of Valtolina there is Burmi. Mountains always full of snow. In Burmi are the Baths". Thus in 1492 Leonado da Vinci had underlined the tourist particularities of Bormio. At the following link you can read an interesting article "On the paths of memory: the White War at the Stelvio Pass" written by the scientific journalist Giuditta Bricchi.

Santa Caterina Valfurva has always been a village rich in history and tourism.
In the 14th and 15th centuries. Valfurva constitutes an important transit point which, through the Gavia valley, connects the Republic of Venice and the County of Bormio, thus encouraging the development of profitable commercial relationships.
Santa Caterina Valfurva became a famous spa resort starting from the 17th century. thanks to the sources of ferruginous water discovered in 1698 by the parish priest Don Baldassare Bellotti. There are two springs that flow from underground: the sulphurous water spring, rich in sulphur, and the akua forta spring, impregnated with iron and with a sour and spicy flavour. It is a water with notable therapeutic properties whose fame soon surpasses the borders of the valley.
In 1835, a real factory was opened in Santa Caterina Valfurva for the bottling of the prodigious akua forta, which became so famous that it was also exported abroad.
During the years between the First and Second World Wars, spa tourism suffered a sharp decline; the beautiful pavilions of the source, enlarged at the beginning of the 20th century, were converted into peat dryers and finally demolished in 1952, after having suffered serious damage.
Currently, at the arrival of the Cevedale slope and a few steps from where the old pavilion once stood, a small water museum has been built whose shape deliberately follows the nineteenth-century one. Inside there is a fountain with two jets for the akua forta and the sulphurous water. Vintage photos and captions will remind those present of the medicinal qualities of each.