Bagni di Mezzo - Bagno Lad

Between the main village of San Pancrazio and Lake Alborelo lie the houses of Bagno Lad (Bad Lad), a hamlet belonging to the municipality of San Pancrazio. You can see the reservoir, one of several in the Val d'Ultimo used to generate electricity, just below the valley road.

From Bagno Lad, small roads branch off, leading you to two special places. One of these is located on the banks of the Valsura River, just below Bagno Lad. Originally, it was just a small farmstead, like many others in the meadows around San Pancrazio. However, when a flood inundated and swept away numerous buildings in 1882, this particular one was spared.

Only afterwards did it become apparent that it had been built on a large block of stone. And so, the "House on the Stone" still perches on the rock today - however, it is not open to visitors. In a small side valley lies Bagni di Mezzo (Mitterbad), with its collection of buildings including a bathhouse and coffee house, the Villa Waldruhe, a bowling alley with a shooting range, and a chapel.

Thanks to its magnesium and iron-rich springs, Bagni di Mezzo was once one of the most famous spas in the German-speaking world. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Empress Sissi and Otto von Bismarck came here for spa treatments, as did the painter Franz von Defregger and the author Thomas Mann, who completed his novel "Buddenbrooks" here. Marble tubs were available for the prominent guests, while the other spa-goers bathed in Bagni di Mezzo in wooden tubs.