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A Grand Day Out of Town the Magic Harmony of Bagno Vignoni
[Francesco Lorenzi]
On a sunny day of February, when winter is quite close to the end, let's go discover a forgotten corner of Tuscany, where time and nature seem to have found a magic harmony. We are in the cultural-natural-artistic park of the Val d'Orcia, a luxuriant land surrounded by mountains and divided by the curves of a river. On a green plain on top of a hill, the Middle Ages have left one of their traces which, untouched by the passing centuries, lives apart from the clamor of our time. It is Bagno Vignoni, a cluster of stone houses as enchanting as it is small, wrapped in the hot vapors which hover around an ancient thermal pool. When the air cools off, white clouds rise from a tub where the water comes up from a depth of 1000 meters at a temperature of 52°C.
The Romans already knew the benefits of the place, but only starting in the 12th century was the thermal spring used systematically with the founding of a village.
In 1360 a thirteen-year-old girl arrived from Siena accompanied by her mother, who intended to distract her from her ascetic calling. It was Caterina Benincasa, the future Saint Catherine, who during her brief stay in Bagno succeeded just the same in dedicating herself to penance, wading to the place where the water was almost boiling. A gracious loggia on the south side of the piazza carries her name and hosts a little chapel named after her. After admiring the steaming pool, whose guests included Lorenzo the Magnificent and Pope Pius II, we can visit the parish church of Saint John the Baptist, decorated with a noteworthy fresco by Ventura Salimbeni.
The new bathing establishment in the outskirts of the town offers pleasant baths and therapeutic mud, while the local cuisine delights us with specialties of Sienese gastronomy.
HOW TO GET THERE:
By car: from Siena take S 2 Cassia in the direction of Rome, and once passed San Quirico, after a few kilometers, turn for Bagno Vignoni. Distance about 50 km.
By train: from the Buonconvento train station, buses for San Quirico d'Orcia and Bagno Vignoni.
Info: Tourist office in S.Quirico d'Orcia. (0577.897211)
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