San Casciano dei Bagni Spas (Siena)

The town: San Casciano dei Bagni
San Casciano dei Bagni is a tiny village near Siena with a little over 2,000 inhabitants, including those living on farms in the outskirts. At an altitude of 582 meters, it is situated between the Paglia and Chiana valleys and surrounded by the Cetona, Amiata and Radicofani mountains. Its territory borders the regions of Umbria and Lazio.
The town is 35 km from Montepulciano in the southern side of Mount Cetona. Not so far from the village there are 42 radioactive thermomineral springs with curative power not completely used for bathing and mud-bathing therapy. They flow at a temperature ranging from 37 to 43 degrees in springs in a natural state.

HISTORY
Spa waters have always attracted human settlements in this area.
The first organized settlements took place with the Etrurians. As reported by Domenico Maria Manni from Florence between the 16th and the 18th century, legends tell that ?Lucumone? Porsenna from Chiusi founded the first structures to use hot springs that would be called ?Fonti Clusinii? by the Romans.
During the following centuries Romans? expansion led to Etrurians? eclipse and some cities like Chiusi started to lose their power, this did not happen to San Casciano, appreciated by the Romans for its spas.
Thanks to its strategic position on the way from Europe and Northern Italy to Rome, San Casciano had a big development and could be easily reached by people needing hot springs or mud treatments.
The ?Via Cassia?, one of the most important roads in the Roman civilisation, passed east by San Casciano, therefore many important persons came here, especially during the Roman Empire.

The Thermal Spa
The thermal waters at San Casciano gush out from a multitude of springs constituting a basin of noteworthy capacity. The chemical - physical characteristics classify it as hyper-thermal, sulfuric, calcic and magnesic water: at some of these springs natural, thermal mud is formed that has extraordinary therapeutic properties. The muds are obtained through a natural mixture of mineral water and clay that is steeped and enriched with mineral components in underground cavities that surround San Casciano dei Bagni.

The water
At the foot of Monte Cetona, amidst oak and chestnut forests, there are forty-two springs rich in mineral salts, sulphate, calcium, magnesium and fluoride. We are at San Casciano Bagni, a resort recommended by many rheumatological doctors and orthopaedics for its mud-therapy and fango-balneotherapy cures for arthrosis and its complications, arthritis and traumatology.

Treatments
The present owners of the thermal complex have an innovative program for improving the thermal treatments, which will take maximum advantage of the thermal water in a natural and climatic environment.

Pelobalneotherapy
The role of baths in the treatment of rheumatic illness is to supply assistance in the prevention and/or cure of some articular affections, to reduce recurrence of symptoms or complications and to rehabilitate the patient. San Casciano dei Bagni will be part of this new approach in health spas, with the continuous presence of specialists in various disciplines and with its new facilities for the treatment and rehabilitation of the pathologies that will most benefit from thermal treatments.

Mineral Water Cures
Mineral water treatments have always been carried out in the principal health spas and have traditionally constituted the most immediate and pleasant aspect of spa treatment for the patient. Usually the illnesses treated by drinking water are those regarding the stomach, the intestine, the urinary tract, and diseases such as gout, obesity and diabetes as well as some pediatric ailments.

Treatment of ear, nose and throat diseases (aerosol, inhalations and nebulization)
Inhalatory thermal treatments through various techniques allow for the treatment of various upper respiratory pathologies such as rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis, adenoids, tonsillitis, laryngitis as well as pulmonary problems such as chronic bronchitis, tracheo-bronchitis and forms of asthma with mucous build up. In the near future the Spas at San Casciano dei Bagni will also have pertubarich inhalations to face the problem of rhinologic deafness.

Dermatology, esthetic and gynecological treatments
Certain gynecological problems benefit greatly from thermal therapy. Even some infertility problems are alleviated by resolving chronic inflammation and aiding the endocrinological system. The vegetable mineral muds mixed with the thermal waters from the spring named "Il Portico" in San Casciano dei Bagni are used in facial masks in specific therapeutic treatments in cases of seborrhea, acne and beginning phases of cutaneous senescence.

San Casciano?s hot springs

BAGNO DELLA FICONCELLA
It has always been the main spring in the thermal resort. In 1583 Schiavetti wrote about it: ... These waters are really wonderful and so famous that people beyond the mountains come, and I dare say that if these waters would be run as they are worth, one could say that neither in Italy, nor probably in all Europe, would it be possible to find similar waters. This spring, together with Santa Maria and San Giorgio springs is part of the biggest structure in San Casciano and was enriched by the Grand Duchy Ferdinando I that commissioned the building of the porch that still decorates the structure.

BAGNO GRANDE
It is called like this because of its whirlpool, because of its water springing with thousands of jets and its bubbles coming to the surface. It is a spring of clear and limpid water that is extremely hot, as one can easily feel by the touch, which is the most important judge of qualities. (Ghezzi, 1617).
As the name indicates it is the most abundant of the 43 springs belonging to the thermal resort.
Until the half of the 19th century it was decorated by a beautiful porch and had proper rooms where a large number of therapies connected to the many properties of waters could be practised.
Water fell into the basin from the mouths of two lion heads carved on one of the walls.

BAGNO BOSSOLO
It was also called ?Bagno Bosso? or ?Buxo? in ancient times and it is near the ?Bagno Grande?. It has the warmest water in San Casciano; Ghezzi says about it ... it is a liquid that can be called ?angelic? from any side you may consider it. It is still decorated by its porch, but the Apollo statue from which water used to fall has disappeared. The main property of this water was the treatment of burns: if one immerged the burned skin, the effectiveness of the spring was so high that there was no scar left.

DOCCIA DELLA TESTA
It was one of the most famous and visited springs in San Casciano. Complicated showers were practised on various parts of the body inside these structures. Before having showers patients had to shave their hair off to put some special powders directly on their heads. Applications lasted differently as they finished when patients felt some warmth inside their heads. As the treatment went on water felt stronger and stronger: the height from where water felt was raised, because the effectiveness of the treatment was proportional to the strength of the water beating on heads.

Other springs that were mainly used but are less equipped from both architectural and functional points of view are: Santa Maria, San Giorgio, Il Loto, La Caldagna, I Fraticelli, Il Sasso and La Piscina.

Tourist informations Offices
Ufficio informazioni agenzia viaggiatori FS : Piazza Italia 67 Chianciano Terme - Tel. 0578/671122/3
emails : apt@chianciano.turismo.toscana.it / info@chianciano.turismo.toscana.it
Direzione : A.P.T. Chianciano Terme - Valdichiana - Via Sabatini 7 - Tel. 0578/67111 - email : apt@ftbcc.it