San Casciano dei Bagni
Member of I Borghi più belli d'Italia
Forty-two hot springs explain this hill village at 582 metres, in the far south-east of Siena province between the Val d'Orcia and Monte Amiata. Etruscans and Romans bathed here, and in 2022 digs at the ancient spa sanctuary brought up 24 bronze statues in excellent condition. In August the Palio di San Cassiano has four contrade race wheelbarrows, each carrying a frog that must not jump off.
Highlights
- Excavations of the Etruscan-Roman spa sanctuary, source of the 2022 bronzes
- Hot springs flowing at about 5.5 million litres a day
- Palio di San Cassiano, the wheelbarrow-and-frog race near 13 August
- Sagra dei pici at Celle sul Rigo in late May
- Views over the Sienese countryside from Piazza della Repubblica
Summary based on Wikipedia and Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA), written with AI assistance.
Population: 1,500
Things to see
Travel guide (Wikivoyage)
San Casciano is a city in Tuscany and is a municipality in the province of Siena, whose birth and development are undoubtedly linked to the presence of the hot springs. Both the Etruscans and the Romans have subsequently appreciated and frequented these places. According to tradition and as is recounted in the works of Horace and other classical writers, visitors to the area include the Emperor Octavian Augustus. The large turnout to these spas by the citizens of ancient Rome is testified by the many tombstones which emerged over the centuries in the countryside around San Casciano, one of which is dedicated to triaria, the wife of Emperor Vitellio. A lot of people from all over Italy and Europe relied on the thermal springs of San Casciano to treat the most disparate diseases. By the end of the Roman Empire the spas of Rapolano underwent a long period of crisis, only to be interrupted during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, marking a return to its former splendor. The end of the eighteenth century saw San Casciano fall into a progressive decline due to a failure to adopt the new standards that were applied to all spas. After an attempt at revival in the 1930s, the sancascianesi spas found their role with the creation of a spa complex and hotel of great value.
Nearby member villages
- Allerona · 10 km
- Cetona · 11 km
- Torre Alfina · 14 km
- Monteleone d'Orvieto · 15 km
- Paciano · 23 km