* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Cote de Pablo reveals how Michael Weatherly used his soap opera roots to put her at ease in “NCIS” love scene – yahoo.com

    Cote de Pablo Reveals How Michael Weatherly’s Soap Opera Background Made Their “NCIS” Love Scene Easier

    City of Pelham announces entertainment district plans for former Oak Mountain Amphitheatre site – WVTM

    Pelham Unveils Exciting New Entertainment District Plans for Former Oak Mountain Amphitheatre Site

    Black Box Players presents ‘The Three Musketeers’ – CBS 19 News

    Experience the Adventure: Black Box Players Bring ‘The Three Musketeers’ to Life!

    AP Entertainment SummaryBrief at 1:51 p.m. EDT – Channel 3000

    Entertainment Highlights: Key Updates You Can’t Miss

    ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ casts Anne Hathaway’s love interest replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate – Entertainment Weekly

    Devil Wears Prada 2′ Casts New Love Interest for Anne Hathaway, Replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate

    12 ‘Late Show’ Moments Proving Stephen Colbert Can’t Be Replaced – The Mountaineer

    12 Unforgettable ‘Late Show’ Moments That Prove Stephen Colbert Is Truly One of a Kind

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology

    Eagle Unveils Revolutionary X-Ray Technology at Pack Expo

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Behind the Screens: The Impact of Technology on Real Estate – TRREB

    Behind the Screens: How Technology is Transforming the Future of Real Estate

    Sustainserv and Palau Announce Technology Partnership to Leverage Innovative AI Platform to Advance Sustainability Reporting – Business Wire

    Sustainserv and Palau Team Up to Transform Sustainability Reporting with Breakthrough AI Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Cote de Pablo reveals how Michael Weatherly used his soap opera roots to put her at ease in “NCIS” love scene – yahoo.com

    Cote de Pablo Reveals How Michael Weatherly’s Soap Opera Background Made Their “NCIS” Love Scene Easier

    City of Pelham announces entertainment district plans for former Oak Mountain Amphitheatre site – WVTM

    Pelham Unveils Exciting New Entertainment District Plans for Former Oak Mountain Amphitheatre Site

    Black Box Players presents ‘The Three Musketeers’ – CBS 19 News

    Experience the Adventure: Black Box Players Bring ‘The Three Musketeers’ to Life!

    AP Entertainment SummaryBrief at 1:51 p.m. EDT – Channel 3000

    Entertainment Highlights: Key Updates You Can’t Miss

    ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ casts Anne Hathaway’s love interest replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate – Entertainment Weekly

    Devil Wears Prada 2′ Casts New Love Interest for Anne Hathaway, Replacing Adrian Grenier’s Nate

    12 ‘Late Show’ Moments Proving Stephen Colbert Can’t Be Replaced – The Mountaineer

    12 Unforgettable ‘Late Show’ Moments That Prove Stephen Colbert Is Truly One of a Kind

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology

    Eagle Unveils Revolutionary X-Ray Technology at Pack Expo

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    Validea’s Top Information Technology Stocks Based On Peter Lynch – 7/25/2025 – Nasdaq

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    WhoFi: New surveillance technology can track people by how they disrupt Wi-Fi signals – Tech Xplore

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Google Cloud Announced as a Key Technology Partner for Odoo Connect 2025 in San Francisco – GlobeNewswire

    Behind the Screens: The Impact of Technology on Real Estate – TRREB

    Behind the Screens: How Technology is Transforming the Future of Real Estate

    Sustainserv and Palau Announce Technology Partnership to Leverage Innovative AI Platform to Advance Sustainability Reporting – Business Wire

    Sustainserv and Palau Team Up to Transform Sustainability Reporting with Breakthrough AI Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

This Tuscan spa town offers ancient history and healing waters

November 29, 2023
in Science
This Tuscan spa town offers ancient history and healing waters
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Travel

The remarkable archaeological site proves that San Casciano dei Bagni has been a place of wellness since Etruscan times.

ByElizabeth Heath

Published November 28, 2023

• 7 min read

The walled town of San Casciano delivers storybook Tuscany—narrow pedestrian-only streets, covered stone passageways, a looming castle, and a café-lined piazza. Outside the walls, the archetypal landscapes of the Val d’Orcia unfurl in all their glory, with rolling fields of vineyards and olive groves punctuated by cypress trees and the profile of a hill town here and there.

While the setting is as idyllic as you might expect, there’s much more to San Casciano than the scenery. Just downhill from the town, nearly a thousand years of ancient history, long-buried in mineral-rich mud, is finally being revealed and is upending scholarly understanding of the period of Etruscan decline and Roman ascension.

A spa for the ages

At the bottom of the same hill, down a dusty road that’s hard to find unless you know where to look, cars park in a makeshift lot. With towels in hand, visitors walk several hundred yards further down the road to do something that’s as everyday as it is remarkable—soak in the thermal waters that have been bubbling up from the earth here for eons.

The shallow stone-built tubs they wade into were constructed in the 1600s, when San Casciano dei Bagni was part of the Medici-ruled Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The bottoms of the pools are rough with pebbles and occasionally slippery with algae. But bathers don’t seem to mind, especially since these thermal baths are free, unlike the pricey pools at the nearby luxury resort. And at a steady 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit), the experience is every bit as soothing, if a bit more rustic.

A few feet from the terme libere, or free baths, a chain link fence covered with a privacy screen and secured with a padlock is all that separates these DIY spa-goers from what may well be the most important archaeological find in the Mediterranean this century. It’s an ancient thermal complex that dates to the third century B.C. and was a place of reverence and healing before it was ceremoniously abandoned in the fifth century A.D. Today, the evidence emerging from the site shows that for hundreds of years, and through a period of tremendous social upheaval and near-constant warfare, Etruscans and Romans came together here to worship, leave offerings, and seek cures.

(Feeling frazzled? These soothing hot springs let you unwind.)

Healing waters

Among the stunning finds pulled from the thermal mud are 24 bronzes dating from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D. Many of the bronzes are of body parts—feet, hands, ears, even internal organs, including a uterus and viscera—or are small statues of infants, children, older adults, and deities, and were given as offerings to the healing gods worshipped at the site. Whether they were left as supplications for a cure or in gratitude for the same isn’t always clear, though some are clearly inscribed as ex voto, or an offering made in fulfillment of a vow.

This summer, Jacopo Tabolli, scientific director of the dig, and his team of archaeologists and students carried on their efforts, uncovering more of the ancient thermal area and retrieving more artifacts from the bottom of the pools, including a 6 1/2-foot-tall statue of Apollo and a travertine altar inscribed in Latin and Etruscan—more proof of the multicultural nature of the site.

“Excavating an Etruscan and Roman intact sanctuary, just a few meters from the Renaissance open-air pools where people are still bathing, is exceptional,” says Tabolli. “It’s a living demonstration of the resilience within these thermal-mineral waters. This sacred landscape, despite transformations in rites, cults, and practices, has always remained linked to its waters.”

(This Italian noble’s embalming jar reveals traces of 17th-century medicine.)

The continuity of water and its role as a physical and symbolic bringer of life is felt beyond the excavation site. “We’re a town that lives on tourism,” says Agnese Carletti, mayor of San Casciano dei Bagni, “and water has always been the constant.” A museum that will house the stunning artifacts from the archaeological dig is set to open sometime in 2024.

“The most beautiful thing,” Carletti says, “is that people still go down to the baths for the same reasons they went 2,300 years ago. The water remains absolute.”

What to know

Getting there: San Casciano dei Bagni is in southeastern Tuscany, about 90 minutes from Siena and an hour from Orvieto. The closest train station is Fabro-Ficulle, about 35 minutes away.

Hotels: Fonteverde Spa is a 5-star thermal hotel with several pools and saunas and a full-service spa. Hotel Sette Querce is located at the entrance to the old town, while Aurora Agriturismo is a country house just steps from the free baths.

Bathing: To find the free baths, walk or drive down Via della Fontanaccia, stopping at the Parcheggio Terme parking lot if you’re driving. There are two bathing areas here, the smaller Bagno Bossolo and, further down the path, the Bagno Grande and the archaeological site. From the town center, a footpath also connects to the baths. At Fonteverde, day passes are available for spa pools and saunas.

Archaeology: Tours of the archaeological dig are currently offered on Saturdays and can be booked through the San Casciano dei Bagni tourism office. Until the larger museum opens in 2024, a small exhibit of items from the dig is on display at the town offices.

Elizabeth Heath is a travel and lifestyle writer based in Umbria, Italy. Follow her on Instagram.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : National Geographic – https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/tuscan-spa-town-ancient-history-healing

Tags: offersscienceTuscan
Previous Post

A rough patch on the road to an electric car future

Next Post

Learn the ropes on a hands-on sailing voyage around Denmark’s South Funen Archipelago

Eagle Unveils Revolutionary X-Ray Technology at Pack Expo

July 26, 2025
Canadiens Hard At Work On A Scorching July Day – Yahoo Sports

Canadiens Hard At Work On A Scorching July Day – Yahoo Sports

July 26, 2025
Foraging activity by an ecosystem engineer, the superb lyrebird, ‘farms’ its invertebrate prey – besjournals

How the Superb Lyrebird Cleverly ‘Farms’ Its Invertebrate Prey While Foraging

July 26, 2025
AI turns immune cells into precision cancer killers—in just weeks – ScienceDaily

AI turns immune cells into precision cancer killers—in just weeks – ScienceDaily

July 26, 2025
Our new book on ideological threats to science – Why Evolution Is True

Unveiling the Hidden Ideological Threats Challenging Evolutionary Science

July 26, 2025

When Veganism Goes to Extremes: Inside the Rise of an Intense Lifestyle

July 26, 2025
The Semi-Fictional Book That Transformed the Culinary World – The New Yorker

The Semi-Fictional Book That Transformed the Culinary World – The New Yorker

July 26, 2025
The economy is continuing to grow, Jack Ablin says – Fox Business

The Economy Keeps Expanding, Says Jack Ablin

July 26, 2025
Cote de Pablo reveals how Michael Weatherly used his soap opera roots to put her at ease in “NCIS” love scene – yahoo.com

Cote de Pablo Reveals How Michael Weatherly’s Soap Opera Background Made Their “NCIS” Love Scene Easier

July 26, 2025
Wellpoint-IBIS Health Clinical Trial – Mass Retirees Association

Wellpoint-IBIS Health Clinical Trial Empowers Mass Retirees for Better Care

July 26, 2025

Categories

Archives

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Jun    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (739)
  • Economy (763)
  • Entertainment (21,644)
  • General (16,113)
  • Health (9,801)
  • Lifestyle (771)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (765)
  • Politics (772)
  • Science (15,978)
  • Sports (21,261)
  • Technology (15,746)
  • World (746)

Recent News

Eagle Unveils Revolutionary X-Ray Technology at Pack Expo

July 26, 2025
Canadiens Hard At Work On A Scorching July Day – Yahoo Sports

Canadiens Hard At Work On A Scorching July Day – Yahoo Sports

July 26, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version