Soothing waters, archaeology, silence and nature: the many treasures of San Casciano dei Bagni to discover all year round
The borgo, a true jewel between Val d'Orcia and Valdichiana, is also home to the five-star Fonteverde, a thermal resort of great appeal to the area
by Sara Magro
That there was an important sanctuary in San Casciano dei Bagni, archaeologists knew, but they did not know where. During excavations around the Bagno Grande, the baths of Etruscan origin, they had found a small ear and a bronze finger. They knew that at the end of the 16th century, the Medici had brought an altar and other parts from the Bagno Grande to the new Terme del Portico, a couple of kilometres away, proof that there must have been much more there. From 2018 to 2021, excavations continued without striking results. Nevertheless, the mayor Agnese Carletti, who has always believed in the enterprise and the hidden treasure on her territory, bought an abandoned vegetable garden near the ancient thermal pool so that the search could continue. If nothing had been found, the area would have been made available to those who still go for healing baths at the spring considered a panacea for health. Instead, in that very garden, the remains of the ancient sanctuary, 24 statues and dozens of bronze votive offerings were found between 2022 and 2024. An extraordinary discovery, indeed the most important excavation underway in Italy, which has brought the Tuscan village on the border with Lazio and Umbria to the pages of all the national newspapers.
Bronzi, an extraordinary discovery
Today, the bronzes of San Casciano, instead of being closed in a warehouse waiting for a museum who knows when, are on tour, first in Naples, Reggio Calabria and Berlin and, from 4 December to 8 March 2026, in Aquileia with the exhibition 'The Gods Return'. "It is also a way to make the name of San Casciano dei Bagni known," says Federica Damiani, who, in love with her town, dedicates much time and energy to it, even though she has a managerial role in the high hospitality association Leading Hotels of the World. Together with the mayor and other local professionals, in 2017, they created La Terrazza, a summer programme of cultural gatherings in the most scenic locations. "The aim is to promote our village through art, literature, journalism, cinema and much more," explains Federica, who thanks to her contacts, in recent years, has brought (and often interviewed) in front of a large and attentive audience more than a hundred cultural personalities, including Margherita Buy, Massimiliano Fuksas, Walter Veltroni, Carlo Cracco, Ferzan Özpetek and Cristiana Capotondi. Capotondi herself had made her home there - 'on top of the world', she wrote on Instagram - a few years ago. Sabrina Ferilli and Flavio Cattaneo are also renovating an estate in the surrounding countryside. And it is no longer a mystery that Tim Burton bought an estate in the hamlet of Palazzone, nestled in that landscape of monumental hills. In a way, Covid has rekindled interest in hamlets, which at the time were an escape from the restrictions of lockdowns, while today they are revalued for their slower lifestyle, more affordable prices, more human relationships, as well as the historical charm that often characterises them.
Five hot and cold water springs
San Casciano is an apparition with its stone houses perched around the castle. You arrive in a tree-lined piazza that is actually a terrace overlooking the countryside, where people stop to read, to talk, to contemplate. In the morning, at the bar, there are the usual customers having breakfast and commenting on the last few days with that Tuscan accent bastardised by the proximity of other regions. Normal, simple life, like a dish of pici all'aglione that is never missing from the menus of good trattorias. As in Etruscan times, the main attraction is still the 25 hot and cold water springs, which - the elders sigh - were also good for the Roman emperors. In the area of the new Medici baths, in the early 2000s, the Fonteverde resort was born, a super innovative thermal centre for the time, combining medicine, holistic theories and high hospitality. Substantial renovation and an international audience are currently lacking, but this five-star resort has all the credentials to give impetus to an entire area. And that of San Casciano dei Bagni could thus become a model of virtuous village development, with a group of enterprising women at the helm, an ancient treasure that has emerged from the mud, and a curated and caring welcome.
