Plombières-les-Bains - Maison des Arcades

The hot springs in the area were used already by the Romans, but from the late 17th century on Plombières-les-Bains developed into a very fashionable, poshy spa, where the celebrities of their times met.

Stanislas Leszczynski (aka "Stanislas le Bienfaisant") was King of Poland (twice) and later Duke of Lorraine. He put great efforts and funds in developing the spa bath.

In 1858 French Emperor Napoleon III and Count Cavour, chief minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, met here secretly to discuss about the political situation in Italy. The outcame was the "Plombières Agreement", a secret verbal agreement concerning a future war in which France and Piedmont would ally themselves against Austria in order to remove Austrian authority from the Italian peninsula.

The France Austrian War started a year later. Savoy and the county of Nice were ceded to France in 1860 and Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy in 1871.