San Casciano dei Bagni

The soul of San Casciano is linked to its thermal waters, to the nature from which they flow and to the well-being they provide: already discovered and used by the Etruscans, they were also frequented by the Romans and, after a long period in which they seemed forgotten, they came back in vogue thanks to the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, who gave the spa building its present-day layout. The presence of the thermal baths drew travellers travelling along the nearby Via Francigena and an illustrious example is Montaigne, who stayed here in 1581. The heart of the village still recounts its past, with the castle - a 20th-century fake but well integrated into the context - and the defensive walls, and from the belvedere in Piazza Matteotti you can enjoy a spectacular panorama, perhaps one of the most enchanting of the Tuscan hinterland.