Taking the Treatment

The Romans loved their baths, and one of their favourite places in Tuscany was Bagno Vignoni. And when it comes to travel tips, who can really beat a Roman recommendation?

Bagno Vignoni is a little town in the Val d’Orcia, with a panoramic view of castle-topped hills, whose claim to fame is the thermal waters that rise up from the earth at 60ºC. The waters are rich in all sorts of minerals; sodium chloride, calcium and iron carbonates, magnesium and sodium sulphates. Even St. Caterina da Siena and Lorenzo dei Medici came to be healed by these waters. We made the pilgrimage to see if it could cure Didi of her main ailment, the ‘terrible twos’.

The pools we visited are part of a hotel that caters mostly to Italians that come for “the cure”. Close to where this picture was taken there are two huge waterfall of quite hot water that cascade down from a ledge above. The mainly older guests hover around these waterfalls and take turns, like hippos, slowly moving in under the pounding water to massage their backs. After sufficient thermal abuse, they swim out to let another drift in for the treatment.