The History of Acqua Panna

Acqua Panna is bottled at a spring located on a 1,300-hectare estate in the Tuscan countryside. The territory was first purchased in the early 1400s by the Medici family, who used it to expand their hunting estate. They also upgraded the existing fortress on their estate to a luxurious villa complete with gardens and an orchard. In 1860, the Marquises of Torrigiani were the owners of the estate and they decided to turn the farmhouse into Villa Panna, a summer residence, and also converted the main agricultural area into a mineral water plant. At first, the water was loaded onto a cart in large 54-liter glass vessels before being delivered to homes as far away as Florence. Around 1910, the large jars were phased out and Acqua Panna was distributed in 1-liter bottles for the first time. In the late 1920s to early 1930s, the estate was purchased by the Contini Bonacossi family. They founded the Società Panna company in 1938, but distribution was almost immediately halted due to World War II. They hid bottles of their water at the bottom of the estate’s artificial lake for safekeeping during the war. In 1951, the new Acqua Panna plant was finally opened and distribution began. In 1957, Società Panna was purchased by the Società delle Terme di San Pellegrino; this allowed for several improvements and modernizations. In 1970, plastic bottles were introduced, followed by PET bottles in 1994. In 2020, the Panna estate became a living laboratory for biodiversity research and a natural sanctuary for the plants and animals that live there thanks to a partnership with the Federation of Italian Parks and Nature Reserves. Today, Acqua Panna is still bottled from the spring located there and remains a well-known bottled water option in many parts of the world; in fact, it is often considered a sophisticated or “fancy” option.