Terme di Saturnia - Cascate del Mulino-0518

Terme di Saturnia - Cascate del Mulino-0490

The Terme di Saturnia are a group of thermal springs located in the municipality of

Manciano Manciano is a town and ''comune'' in the southern part of the province of Grosseto, Tuscany, central Italy. It has a population of about 7,200. Manciano is southwest of Pitigliano and northeast of Orbetello. History Manciano was once a fairl ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, a few kilometers from the village of

Saturnia Saturnia () is a spa town in Tuscany in north-central Italy that has been inhabited since ancient times. It is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Manciano, in the province of Grosseto. Famous for the spa which gives it its name, its population ...

. The springs that feed the baths, which are found in the south-eastern valley, cover a vast territory that stretches from

Mount Amiata Mount Amiata is the largest of the lava domes in the Amiata lava dome complex located about 20 km northwest of Lake Bolsena in the southern Tuscany region of Italy. It is located within the provinces of Grosseto and Siena. Geology Mount Am ...

and the hills of Fiora and

Albegna The Albegna is a river in southern Tuscany, the sources of which are located in province of Grosseto on the southern side of Monte Buceto, the southwestern part of the volcanic cone of Mount Amiata, along with the northern side of Monte Aquilaia, ...

rivers to the

Maremma The Maremma (, ; from Latin , "maritime and) is a geographical region located between Lazio and Tuscany, Central Italy. The biggest city is Grosseto. The region, with a long history, is traditionally populated by the '' butteri'', mounted c ...

grossetana at Roselle (Terme di Roselle) and

Talamone Talamone (, ) is a town in Tuscany, on the west coast of central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma. Talamone is easily reached from Via Aurelia, and is about from Grosseto ...

(Terme dell'Osa).

Toponym

One legend, according to the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization ( ) was an ancient civilization created by the Etruscans, a people who inhabited Etruria in List of ancient peoples of Italy, ancient Italy, with a common language and culture, and formed a federation of city-states. Af ...

and

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

, was that the Terme di Saturnia were formed by lightning bolts, thrown by

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

. During a violent quarrel between the two mythological deities, the bolts thrown towards

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

had missed, causing the hot springs travertine formations.

Location

Located in the town of Saturnia within the Grosseto Province, the hot springs are sited within this ancient town site, founded by

in the 4th-century BC. Saturnia is allegedly the first community to be founded in Italy. The springs are adjacent to hot springs at Cascade del Mulino, both are located in the

area. There is an ancient

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

built by the Etruscans nearby. The area around the hot springs provide habitat for fox, wild boars, wolves and hedgehogs.

Water profile

The sulphurous geothermal spring water is at a temperature of around . The main thermal waterfalls are the Mill Falls, located at an old mill as well as the Waterfalls of Gorello. The yield of the source is about 800 liters per second, which guarantees an optimal replacement of water. The chemical make-up is sulfur, carbon, sulfate, bicarbonate-alkaline, earth, with the presence of

hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is toxic, corrosive, and flammable. Trace amounts in ambient atmosphere have a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. Swedish chemist ...

gas and carbon dioxide. It is claimed, since ancient Roman times, that the hot mineral water has balneotheraputic properties.

Bibliography

*Aldo Mazzolai. ''Guida della Maremma. Percorsi tra arte e natura''. Florence, Le Lettere, 1997.

References

{{Authority control Province of Grosseto Saturnia (Terme) Geography of Tuscany Manciano Hot springs of Italy

Toponym

Location

Water profile

See also

Bibliography

References