The Font Picant spa is one of the places that best explains Sant Hilari Sacalm’s relationship with mineral water and the culture of summer retreats. Set in a natural environment, the complex grew around a spring known for centuries, but especially appreciated from the 19th century onwards, when “taking the waters” became a practice linked to health, rest and social life.

Its slightly acidic-tasting water gave the place its own distinctive character. Buildings were constructed around the spring to welcome visitors and turn Font Picant into a popular destination for people seeking the benefits of mineral waters, as well as the calm and refined atmosphere associated with summer resorts. For many years, this place was part of a very specific way of understanding wellbeing, connected to the landscape, the springs and the slower rhythms of the mountains.

Today, the complex no longer preserves all the activity it once had, but it still carries a strong sense of memory. Walking through Font Picant offers a glimpse of the period when Sant Hilari was consolidating itself as a destination for mineral waters and seasonal stays, and helps explain how the municipality built part of its identity around its springs. As part of Enselva’t, it is a stop for discovering a different kind of thermal heritage, more closely linked to summer retreats and social history than to monumentality.