Bagno Vignoni: spa and tourism in the heart of Val d'Orcia
July 18, 2014Bagno Vignoni is a small and a unique medieval village in Val d'Orcia: the center of the village is in fact dominated by the picturesque Piazza delle Sorgenti, a rectangular tank of the Sixteenth century, which contains a source of hot spring water that comes out steaming from the underground aquifer of volcanic origins. The particularity of the place has also attracted the interest of the international film industry: in 1982, the Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky chose to set here many scenes of the “Nostalghia” movie, the same one that won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival the following year.
The thermal waters of Bagno Vignoni gush from the 1000-meters-deep spring at a temperature of about 49°C. This aquifer has been active for at least 2000 years and its depth allows the water to be enriched with precious elements, the ones holding many healing properties for the human body: the abundance of salts, calcium, iron carbonates, sodium sulfate and magnesium has beneficial and therapeutic effects on bones, joints, skin and the circulatory system. It is no coincidence that these therapeutic baths have always been very well attended ever since ancient times, even by illustrious personalities such as Pope Pius II, Santa Caterina da Siena and Lorenzo the Magnificent. In fact, the thermal baths of Bagno Vignoni were already used in Roman age, thanks to their proximity to the extremely crowded Via Francigena.
Bagno Vignoni is situated inside the Val d'Orcia Natural Artistic and Cultural Park, which was recognized a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2004. Because of that, the village is also the ideal starting point for interesting trips towards neighboring towns of great historic and artistic interest, such as Pienza and Montalcino, or the equally inviting Park of Monte Amiata. Bagno Vignoni is also the ideal destination for lovers of hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking, given the massive presence of beautiful views and breathtaking panoramas, among the most popular ones in Tuscany.
