Saturnia is considered one of Italy’s oldest towns, a place where a thousand years of history blend with divine myths and miraculous waters that have been flowing continuously for millennia.

Formerly named Aurinia, il borgo fu un importante insediamento etrusco prima di essere conquistato dai Romani nel 280 a.C., che lo ribattezzarono “Saturniaafter the name of Saturn.

Later, it became Roman mostly as it was the arrival point of Via Clodia road

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it was ruled by the Aldobrandeschi and Orsini families, before coming under the control of Siena, like much of the Maremma, and eventually under that of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, led by the Medici.

Even if its waters were well known since thousands of years, the first professional hot spring bath and building dates back to 1865, thanks to Bernardino Ciacci,who reclaimed the surrounding land and created the right conditions for the extraordinary growth that Saturnia experienced after. 

The HOT SPRINGS WATERS OF SATURNIA 

The legend tells that the thermal hot springs were generated by a bolt of lightning hurled by Jupiter during a quarrel with Saturn. When the bolt struck the ground, it is said to have opened a crater from which hot hot, sulphurous waters began to gush forth, to soothe the spirits of mankind

The reality, however, tells a very different story: the journey of Saturnia’s extraordinary thermal water begins with the rain that falls on the slopes of nearby Mount Amiata and, for 40 years, flows and filters beneath the surface, passing through layers of rock from prehistoric times, which enrich it with minerals in a way found nowhere else on Earth.

This results in a mineral content that effectively makes these hot springs waters unrivalled and unique in the world.

For thousands of years, water has been rising to the surface at Saturnia, and as it flows above ground, it constantly feeds a specific course, passing through the Terme di Saturnia Thermal Park and the surrounding fields before plunging into the iconic Cascate del Mulino hot springs waterfalls.