If you’re thirsty in Rome, it’s not a problem as there are plentiful of water fountains, called nasone here. It’s safe to drink and freely accessible to everyone.
However when you travel to some areas outside of Central Rome, like in Anguillara, drinking tap water is banned due to the small level of arsenic found. Residents could still bathe with it, but they are banned from using tap water for direct consumption such as brushing their teeth, drinking and cooking.
Which is why there are kiosks such as there all around Anguillara :
Here residents could bring their own bottles and have them filled up with different types of water – most commonly, liscie (plain) and frizzante (fizzy).
I’m not sure if non residents could have access to these water though. I’ve always wanted to try the water here and luckily Cart brought with him an empty half litre bottle when we passed by the area the other night.
We happened to meet a resident at a kiosk who was filling up and he told us that we needed a subscription card to activate the nozzles. He was kind and offered to fill up our bottle anyway.
So I finally got the chance to taste the water from the kiosk. The fizzy one. I like it. It was as good as the ones you get from an Italian supermarket here.
For those of you who think water is water and tastes the same everywhere, don’t knock if off till you’ve tried it yourself. I used to think that way too – but the water here is distinctly different. I find the water here quite delicious. I’m even ok at giving up drinking soda. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why agricultural crops have a different quality here?