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Bagno Vignoni |
Piscine Termali a Bagno Vignoni |
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A
porch-type bridge passes over the waters flowing from the bath towards
the termal
establishments and subsequently going on to feed a series
of mils
situated along the steep edge sloping down towards the river an area
that may now be visited thanks. Lo extensive resounding carried out by
the St.
Quirico Council (Watermill
Park).
It
is known that Catherine
of Siena stayed in Bagno Vignoni several
times, taken there by her mother in an attempt to dissuade her from
taklng the Order.
Other
illustrious persona ges such as Pope
Pio Il Piccolomini
and Lorenzo the Magnifilcent, who sta yed for a period 1490, also bear
witness Lo the popularity of the baths.
The
vicinity of the bath to the Via
Francigena,
scene of the heaviest flow of pilgrims of their way to Rome, persueded
the less hurried of the travellers to make
the acquaintance of and to use the spa waters. Mention is made of this
in Michel de Montaigne’s travel diary in 1581.
During
l6th tury the waters and their curative properties inspired the
Sienese scholar Lattanzio Tolomei, to write the Greek verses dedicated
to the water Nymphs engraved on the marble tabled now enclased on a
pillar in St.
Catherine’s
open gallery.
The
Commune of Siena had always kept the thermal treatments carried out in
the zone under strict control and indeed two articles of the City
Constitution are dedicated specifically to the Vignoni
establishment, prescribing the division of the men‘s and women ‘s
bath with the cost of the operation to be borne half by the
inhabitants and the hotel keepers of the zone and the other half by
the inhabitants of the Val
d’Orcia
castles; room prices were also estab]ished.
During
the same century new interest and studies relating to mineral waters
and the spa bath flourished. Among the authors who spoke of Bagno
Vignoni
was the physician Andrea Bacci who, visiting the bath in person in
1548, praised the munificent hospitallty of the Amerighi famlly. In
1592 the Grand Duke granted the said family the use of the gabelle of
the bath, on the understanding that they in turn would arrange for the
necessary manteinance; this agreement became permanent in 1599, on
the same condition together with the obligation of keeping a bakery a
butcher’s shop and a tavern in Bagno,
as well as the staff required for carrying out the spa treatments,
whilst the annual
emptying of the bath in May saw the Amerighi family authorised to call
upon the inhabitants of the Val d’Orcia for this puorpose. The small
chapel dedicated to St. Catherine built in the center of the porch
overlooking the termal pool, was constructed by this fami]y.
In
1677 the Gran
Duke Cosimo III enfeoffed St. Quirico d’Orcia
to Cardinal Flavio Chigi, together with the lilttle villages of
Vignoni and Bagno Vignoni; the thermal establishment, together with
three mills, eight houses, a tavern and a certain amount of land thus
passed
into the hands of the Chigi family and their discendents to
whom a part still remains in property.
Nowadays
Bagno Vignoni
is well-known and appreciated the world over as an esteemed thermal
locality situated in the heart of the Val
d’Orcia
Artistic Natural and Cultural Park, a context of almost immuted beauty
through the century.
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Alberghi - Agriturismi - Osterie - Terme - Itinerari
Fiere e sagre - Prodotti tipici