nfmeredith

Has anyone been to the springs in Saturnia? Is it worth the trip from Radda in Chianti?

annhig

Hi nfm,

according to googlemaps, it's about 2 1/2 hours from Radda to Saturnia, so I'd have to say that it's not worth it. Shame 'cos it's a lot of fun. The pools are arranged in a sort of cascade and you can wallow about in them to your heart's content.

however Volterra, San Gimignano, to the west and Arezzo to the east are well within day trip distance as well as Siena of course.

just watch out for the restricted traffic zones.

sandralist

There are other hot springs that are closer. In particular I am thinking of Rapolano Terme, but there might be some even closer than that. You can ask at your accommodations.

http://www.chianti.it/turismo/terme-chianti.php

f you have small children, be aware that some hot springs are unsuitable for them. And some are quite commercialized with professional spas.

sandralist

http://www.tuscany-villas.ie/to-tusc...rapolano-terme

Dickie_Gr

Monte Amiata is an old friend, you just know you are in heaven when you see the sun setting below its peak.

However, driving over Amiata is diabolical. The road is small and winds for mile after mile, by the time you reach Arcidosso you feel like you have done ten rounds with Mike Tyson and you are only half way to Saturna.

As Ann writes, the pools are lovely but it is a long journey, fine if you are on your way to be coast.

nfmeredith

Thank you all for your help! I will look into places that are a bit closer.

Dickie_Gr

Edith

If you want some advice.

Go into Siena, buy a Kompass 1:25000 road and path map. They are available at good book shops and provide the network of old cart tracks that few people use.

Put on some comfortable shoes and drive to the area north of Pienza around Montisi. If you use the map to gauge distances which are comfortable for you all the better.

You will be rewarded by walks that talk in views that haven't changed in 600 years and bump into weird and wonderful local characters. Just jaw dropping landscape vistas.

We bumped into an old dear of a countess who ranted at me for 5 minutes. With my blond hair, she presumed I was German and they had cut off her arm in 1944. Another group of farmers had my Springer Spaniel looking for truffles.

I miss those times much.

sandralist

But I could tell a similar story about spontaneously stopping in Buonconvento, which is part of the old pilgrim's path from Canterbury England to Rome, and encountering an elderly woman walking her cat. They had quite a relationship.

Or even the time I spent in a hospital in Bologna, the oldest of its kind in Europe, where women shouted in the night having nightmares about WW2.

You don't need to buy a map and zero in on some distant specific place in Italy to encounter landscapes and people bubbling with historic memory. What DickeG describes isn't special to Pienza around Montisi. Just like hot springs, you don't have to go someplace far from where you are staying in Tuscany to get the essence of Tuscany. You don't need to repeat other people's memories or trips. You can go where they didn't go and still come home with an amazing memory all your own.

Dickie_Gr

We are all well aware of you issues in a social environment Sandra.

StCirq

nfmeredith, I have no recollection of how close to or far from this is from Radda in Chianti, but I thought this place was beautiful:

http://www.termesanfilippo.com/

annhig

St Cirq - according to googlemaps, it's about 90 mins from Radda in Chianti to the Terme San Filippo. it does look beautiful though.