Tap water in San Marino, and what the test results say

It’s a fair question for any small hilltop country, and more so for one with no big rivers or lakes in sight. The answer is yes, you can drink the tap water in San Marino, and I’m not saying that on a hunch. The country publishes its own test results, and I’ve summarised them so you can judge for yourself.

Is San Marino’s tap water safe?

Yes. The water in your tap is supplied by AASS, the Azienda Autonoma di Stato per i Servizi Pubblici, the state utility that also runs electricity, gas and the buses. It describes it simply as drinking water, and what I like is that it doesn’t stop at the claim. Castello by castello, it publishes average results from samples taken by the state health service’s public health laboratory, set against the limits in the EU’s 2020 drinking water directive.

That’s the most useful thing on this page for me. I don’t have to take a brochure’s word for it, I can read the numbers. And the numbers are good.

What the 2026 results show

I’ve looked at the City of San Marino, which is where you’ll almost certainly be, fed by the Rocca, Fossi, Pianello, Teatro and Montalbo reservoirs. In the first half of 2026, E. coli came in at under 1 per 100 millilitres, which the table itself says counts as zero. Nitrate was 8 mg/L against a limit of 50. Lead and arsenic were below what the method can measure. The pH sat at 7.8, well inside the permitted range. Serravalle, the other large castello, showed very similar figures. That matters if you’re staying lower down to save money, because Serravalle’s reservoirs, from Cailungo and Galazzano to Torraccia and Falciano, cover a big slice of the country, including the area around Dogana where many visitors arrive. The results aren’t a one-off either. The same page publishes every half-year back to 2022, and the Città’s figures barely move from one period to the next.

The one thing out of the ordinary is hardness, 28 French degrees in the Città and 27 in Serravalle. That’s inside the range AASS gives as recommended, 15 to 50, so it’s not a health matter. It’s water with plenty of limescale, and if you’re from a soft-water part of the UK you might notice the taste, and the kettle.

Where it comes from

AASS feeds around 10 million litres of drinking water into the network each day. Between 60 and 70% comes from the Galavotto treatment plant, which mainly draws on the Marecchia, the river that runs down the valley towards Rimini. The rest is bought in, roughly 30% from Romagna Acque, which manages the Ridracoli reservoir in the Apennines, and 5 to 10% from Hera.

At Galavotto the water is oxidised, filtered through sand and activated carbon, and disinfected with chlorine dioxide, with daily checks by AASS and the state health service. It’s then pumped to the Ca’ Moraccino station and shared out through 32 local reservoirs. AASS reckons its network loses about 16% of the water, against an Italian average it puts at around 40%. To me that says the pipes are looked after, which is exactly what you want to know before drinking from them.

The one caveat, the building’s own plumbing

AASS is refreshingly frank here. It guarantees water quality up to the point it enters a building, but warns that if the plumbing inside is old or damaged, water can come out discoloured or dirty. That’s down to each property, not the public supply. If the water in your room runs cloudy or coloured, I wouldn’t drink it and I’d mention it at reception, as I would anywhere.

What I’d do

Drink from the tap and carry a refillable bottle. There’s no health reason to buy bottled water, and no budget reason either. On a hot day climbing up to the towers you’ll get through a lot, and paying for every bottle at old town cafés adds up. It’s the kind of small saving that fits everything in San Marino for free and on the cheap.

While you’re sorting the practicalities, sockets and adapters are covered in San Marino plug type and voltage, and the hospital and pharmacies in San Marino hospital and emergencies.