Italians drink a lot of mineral water. A lot. They average 178 liters per capita per year, compared to 69 liters for the average American. Indeed, this collective obsession with mineral water is so pervasive in Italy that it’s necessary to specifically request aqua del rubinetto (water from the tap) in restaurants - as bottled mineral water is the default selection.
Mineral water may be an Italian’s beverage of choice, but not everybody’s choosing it for the same reason. Our conversations with Italians reveal three schools of thought.
"Italian tap water tastes like chlorine, and mineral water tastes clear, fresh and pure," says Ettore Fortuna, director of the Mineracqua Association, a consortium that promotes Italian mineral water. "People here trust the product."
"People like my dad play at being water 'sommeliers,' "says Diego Segalini, a set designer in Rome. "He'll taste a brand and exclaim, 'That one is a little too ...' " Diego rubs his thumb and forefinger together. "Or he'll come home with a new brand and say, 'Now we're going to drink this one; it's supposed to be good with fish.'"
"Plenty of people drink mineral water for health reasons," says Valentina Rossi, an advertising consultant from Milan. "Italians have a long tradition of 'taking the waters'—bathing in mineral water for health benefits—at spas." (The word spa might, in fact, come from the Latin phrase "salud per aqua," which means "health through water.")
Mineral water flows slowly toward the surface from its source deep in the earth, eventually emerging from the ground as a spring. On the way, it picks up minerals such as sodium and calcium and, in some cases, gases that cause natural carbonation. "Each variety of bottled mineral water has a completely different mineral makeup, depending on where it comes from," says Fortuna. "It is the fingerprint of the earth."
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