In November 2022, an extraordinary discovery was made in a remote hilltop village straddling the thickly-wooded borders of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio. The cluster of stone buildings that make up the centro storico of San Casciano dei Bagni mainly date from the 13th century, but the history of this geothermal hub pre-dates that by many centuries, and the mineral-rich, healing waters which bubble up from some 40 springs at 42 degrees centigrade have been attracting visitors for millennia.
Latter-day experts have long known that there was an important archaeological site close by, but they weren’t sure exactly where until 2019 when a series of ancient artefacts were dug up just below the village. Sienese archeologist Emanuele Mariotti who has led the project from the outset then shifted his focus to an overgrown vegetable patch, metres from the public pools where the locals still bathe in the warm waters. Tangles of thick vegetation were pulled back to reveal a series of ancient columns, and the dig began in earnest. What they found left the archeological world stunned; this was the most exciting and significant discovery of its kind since the Riace bronzes were found off the coast of Calabria in 1972.
‘What makes this site unique in the entire Mediterranean’ Mariotti’s colleague Jacopo Tabolli told CNN ‘is the exceptional state of preservation, and the evidence it provides for how medical hot water practices were considered curative under divine protection. The quantity and quality of the objects recovered are also astonishing’.
Dating from the third century BC and believed to have been built by the Etruscans and enhanced by the Romans, the archeologists surmised that this place, henceforth known as the Bagno Grande, was not simply a thermal complex but, more significantly, a sanctuary or place of pilgrimage where people came to worship and to seek cures, often leaving offerings and votives in exchange for help and healing from the gods.
The dig, financed by the Comune of San Casciano and involving a team of archeologists, international students and volunteers, unearthed more than 30 bronze statues all grouped together and submerged in five metres of hot, muddy water in an oval-shaped pool. ‘The most difficult part was excavating in the thermal pool itself’ recalls Mariotti. ‘We were dealing with hot water gushing continually from the ground at a rate of ten to twenty litres per second’. The statues would have once stood around the rim of the pool, but were probably placed in the water as part of a sacrificial ceremony along with a host of smaller votives including body parts (feet, ears, hands, a uterus), statues of babies and children and a haul of some 10,000 gold, silver and bronze coins.
At the onset of the Christian era in the early 5th century AD the sanctuary was sealed over, largely intact. Not much is known of the intervening years, but in the early 1600s, the Medicis moved an alter and other artefects from the Bagno Grande and built a grand villa just outside the village, now part of the high-end Fonteverde spa resort. Subsequently the site was all but forgotten until 2022 when the archeologists struck proverbial oil.
So what does all this mean for the future of the village? ‘There are presently around 1,450 residents in the municipality of San Casciano (which includes the nearby villages of Celle sul Rigo, and Palazzone), but only 72 of us in the centro storico, and that number is decreasing’ explains town counsellor and native San Cascianese Federica Damiani. ‘In the 1960s and 70s many young people moved away, and holiday homes are not enough to sustain the community although we still have a bank and a post office’.
One local resident who resisted the temptation is Daniela Boni. Born and raised in San Casciano, she left to study accountancy but came back to run the family business with her brother and new Florentine husband Silvestro. Set on tree-lined, sun-drenched Piazza Matteotti just under the town walls, Bar Centrale serves as the village social salotto. ‘I was sorry to see the family business fold’ she says, ‘and I didn’t fancy the idea of working behind a desk in a bank, so we decided to take it on’. They expanded in 1989 and opened a spaghetteria with Silvestro cooking for anyone who was around and hungry at the end of the evening. Then a modest, run-down pensione came up for sale and they opened the little hotel Sette Querce in 1993. Thanks to help from friend Tricia Guild – the British founder of fabric and wallcoverings company Designers’ Guild – who had a house nearby, the nine-room hotel was a breath of fresh air, a riot of dazzling colour at a time when Tuscan interiors were all about white walls, rustic ceiling beams and lumbering dark furnishings. Ristorante Da Daniela followed, another break from tradition with its rough stone walls, painted country furniture, soft lighting and menu of dishes whipped up by Silvestro who gave a twist to the Tuscan classics. ‘We always wanted to do something different in San Casciano’ recalls Daniela; ‘we often travelled and would return home full of ideas’.
The hotel and restaurant are thriving today together with a winery managed by their son Giacomo who is back home after a long stint honing his wine-making skills in Patagonia, France and New Zealand. Younger son Alessandro now manages the hotel and restaurant, the two of them bringing much-needed fresh energy to the village.
Federica Damiani passionately believes that culture is the driving force behind sustainable tourism for the future. Now based in Milan for work, she returns home most weekends. ‘The goal is to promote our village through culture’ she explains, and to this end, she and a group of forward-thinking local women created La Terrazza, an ongoing summer programme of free cultural events which has brought in weighty figures from the worlds of art, cinema, literature, music and journalism.
‘Fonteverde raised the profile hugely when it opened in 2002 and targeted foreign buyers to invest in properties nearby. But now, with the discovery of the bronzes, we all hope that San Casciano will enjoy a new lease of life’.
The bronzes have been on tour in Europe and the US while they wait for their new home, 16th century Palazzo dell’Arcipretura in the centro storico, to be restored; for now a few choice artefacts are already on display in a room next to the Comune. But hard graft is still needed on a promotional level; ‘Our responsibility is to make sure we attract the right kind of tourists without losing the authenticity of this place’ says Damiani.
Alongside the new museum, a Thermal Archeological Park is planned, and San Casciano is preparing for a substantial increase in visitor numbers. There’s a new bar, an alimentari and a greengrocer’s along with a couple of new gift shops. Airbnb apartments are being converted adding to the choice of available local accommodation while high-end villas such as Giovanni Bulgari’s recently-inaugurated Godiluva have the cachet and services to cater to the most demanding visitors. A community ‘piceria’ will open in Celle sul Rigo showcasing the fat, hand-rolled spaghetti that is the village’s most famous culinary calling card while in April 2026, the first edition of Fonti di Vino: tra calici e acque termali brought together leading local figures in the worlds of wine, hospitality, gastronomy and culture with an eye to a more permanent collaboration enhancing the tourist experience in the future.
The excavations are ongoing and experts believe that there is much more to be revealed while all signs indicate that San Casciano dei Bagni is on the cusp of a renaissance thanks to a unique discovery, one that has at its very core the thermal, therapeutic waters that have been the life blood of this community for millennia.
