San Casciano dei Bagni

The characteristic village of San Casciano dei Bagni is essentially linked to the presence of thermal waters: 42 springs at an average temperature of 40 ° C with a total flow of about 5.5 million liters of water per day, placing San Casciano in third place in Europe for thermal water flow.
The village is located in the southernmost area of the province of Siena and its oldest monument is located at the entrance to the thermal center and is the Pagan Temple which dates back to the 4th century, dedicated to the goddess of health Igea.

Between the XVII and XVIII centuries the Etruscans founded the “Bagni Chiusini”, appreciated and frequented later by the Romans, both for the effectiveness of the waters and for the proximity to Rome itself and to the Via Cassia.
The vitality of this center is also witnessed by the early penetration of Christianity and already in the 4th-5th century there was a parish church in San Casciano entitled S. Maria “ad Balneo”.

The 13th century is the century of the general revival of thermalism and with it San Casciano is also reborn, thanks also to the proximity of the Via Francigena, the important artery connecting Europe, northern Italy and Rome.
In this period we should mention the misfortune of the abbot of Cluny, kidnapped by Ghino di Tacco while he was coming to San Casciano to treat liver and stomach pain as mentioned by Boccaccio, in the II novella of the 10th day of the Decameron.

Here everything is nature and well-being, and still the thermal waters flow, dear to the Etruscans, their discoverers.
The Romans, taking up the customs of their predecessors, frequented the baths to treat – the poet Orazio recounts – diseases of the liver and biliary tract.
In the seventeenth century the mineral and sulphurous waters returned in vogue with the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, who gave today’s accommodation to the thermal building.

All around, the Tuscan countryside where, in spite of the recovery of physical form, one can sin with a Chianina steak.
The image with which San Casciano dei Bagni appears today is that of the Castle with the walls and the tower.

The castle is a false twentieth century, but well integrated into the surrounding environment.
From the piazza Matteotti lookout you can admire one of the most beautiful views of the Tuscan countryside.
Within the village numerous palaces and churches recall the importance of the place.
The restorative and curative presence of the thermal springs was worth the detour from Radicofani, on the Via Francigena, to San Casciano.

One that made this deviation was Montaigne in 1581, as he notes in his Journal de Voyage en Italie. Entering the narrow alleys with the significant names of Via della Pace and Via del Silenzio, you go down to the door in blocks of travertine more difficult to conquer because on top of a steep climb. Moving to the other side of the village you reach the sixteenth-century oratory that preserves a fresco by Pomarancio.