One of the most famous places in the southern part of Tuscany is certainly the village of Saturnia, a fraction of the Municipality of Manciano in the province of Grosseto. The town is located about 40 kilometers from the west shore of Lake Bolsena.
Saturnia is famous everywhere for its spas which are located a few kilometers outside the town, accessible in two ways, through the thermal complex “Hotel Terme di Saturnia wellness center Spa & Golf Resort” where the source is located, or with a bath at Cascate del Mulino, one of the most fascinating and well-known natural spas in the world with free admission. The village itself is still worth a visit, elegant, of not entirely clear origin but probably dating back to Roman times, today it has about 280 inhabitants and is spread around the main square: Piazza Vittorio Veneto. Here there are also several places to taste the products of the local cuisine.
The city was probably founded during the Roman period following the fate of Vulci until in the mid-third century BC, after the conquest of the Vulcese territory by Rome in 280 BC. Saturnia was elevated to administrative headquarters and prefecture, and then to a colony before beginning a period of decline.
Ruled by the Aldobrandeschi, it was then disputed by Orvieto and Siena, until in 1299 it was destroyed by the Sienese. In 1410 Saturnia was definitively conquered by Siena, remaining subject to the city of the palio until 1593, when the Medici gave it fief to the Marquis Ximenes of Aragon.
The main attraction, as mentioned, are certainly the thermal baths and its sulphurous waters already known in ancient times. The Hotel Terme di Saturnia wellness center Spa & Golf Resort is a top-level thermal park with four outdoor thermal pools immersed in nature with constant sulphurous water at 37.5 ° C. The structure is completed by a luxury resort with rooms and suites, restaurants, bars and shopping areas, a “SPA and Beauty” area for thermal wellness with treatments and aesthetic medicine and the “Terme di Saturnia Golf Club”.
The Cascate del Mulino They are free and free, open 24 hours a day, and are located about three kilometers from the town. From the source (the hotel’s natural swimming pool), the thermal waters continue outside the structure in a small natural canal about 500 meters long called the “Gorello” (even in this “river” you can swim freely). At a certain point the river meets a difference in height and thus creates a waterfall where there is an ancient mill, and here are the mill waterfalls, also very beautiful from a panoramic point of view when you arrive in Saturnia from Montemerano-Manciano.
Inside the village, Piazza Vittorio Veneto is very charming, full of greenery and flowers, surrounded by small rooms where you can enjoy a lunch or an aperitif. A little further on is the church of Santa Maria Maddalena, south of the town the Rocca Aldobrandesca from the 12th century and the Via Clodia which leads to the Porta Romana (built by the Romans in the 2nd century BC the only one of the four gates of the village still standing) . In the village there is also the Archaeological Museum of Saturnia where you can admire finds from Saturnia (Necropolis of Puntone, another place to visit), Pitigliano, Sovana and the Albegna valley. The Pietro Aldi Cultural Center was also recently inaugurated, again in the main square.
Finally, in the locality of Poggio Murella (another fraction of the municipality of Manciano) there is the Castellum Aquarum, a Roman cistern with arches and vaults eight meters high, thirty-six long, sixteen wide. This work was built in the Romanesque period during the first century BC. and was part of a larger structure with the function of collecting spring water. This is the place of the legend of Bella Antiglia, an Etruscan queen who is said to have been buried here with her golden carriage
Among the most significant events taking place in this country we point out the Cheese Saturnia, a festival that takes place in spring dedicated to dairy products and at the end of summer the Saturnia Film Festival, a film festival dedicated to short films from all over the world.