Starting today, Terme di Sorano embarks on a new adventure through a blog entirely dedicated to sharing its history, services, and everything related to thermalism. Indeed, while today we are already quite informed about the benefits of various thermal springs for the skin, respiratory tracts, and many other conditions (a topic we will delve into later), we know somewhat less about their origins. If there is one aspect that unites all the different thermal springs, it is that they are intimately connected to the Earth’s heat and the energy it emits towards the surface. However, there are differences between them that should be kept in mind, and in the case of the Terme di Sorano, these differences have curious implications. The first point to highlight is that the Sorano spring is located downstream of the only travertine hill in the area, which is not coincidentally known as the land of tuff. It is in this area that sulfur springs, such as the one at Saturnia, are well-known. In Sorano, however, due to the presence of travertine, a stone made up of calcium deposits, there isn’t a sulfur spring. Instead, there is a spring composed of bicarbonate-magnesium-calcium thermal water rich in minerals. Beyond this initial differentiation, there is an even more curious aspect that must be shared regarding the rediscovery of this ancient spring, which led to the creation of the Sorano thermal complex.
It may seem strange, but the protagonist of this story is a dog named Diesel, who, thanks to his infallible sense of smell, helped unearth a heritage that had been forgotten for half a century, yet had existed for thousands of years. We are at the end of December 2000, when Luciano, an enthusiastic truffle hunter, was surveying the area near Buonconvento (SI) with his son and his faithful companion Diesel (a mixed-breed dog), where their search had already been fruitful on several occasions. Unfortunately, there were farmers on site who, by carrying out their work among the vineyards close to the location he had chosen for the search, made it difficult for the dog to do his job, forcing them to move to another spot. Thus, the choice fell on a piece of land, presumably suited for truffle growth, in the valley of a hill near Sorano, which had already caught Luciano’s attention for some time due to a bell tower emerging from the vegetation. A challenging terrain for searching, as Luciano recalls, where the increasingly dense vegetation forced them to proceed on all fours for long stretches, following the nose of their faithful four-legged friend. Making their way through the thick underbrush, Luciano reached a point in the valley where Diesel began to dig with considerable persistence near a large rock, prompting the curious truffle hunter to rush over to see what was hidden in the ground. And it was here that, after moving the rock aside, he found a somewhat rotten black truffle (norcino). After collecting it and rewarding the dog for the find, Luciano noticed that at a specific point the ground was dissolving, and a stream of water was emerging. After a few minutes, the water began to evaporate, raising Luciano’s suspicions. He realized it was hot water and collected a small sample using a bottle that happened to be on site. At this point, Luciano, remembering stories about hot water pools that were located near Sorano in the past, decided to take that sample to a chemist friend who worked at an analysis institute. The results confirmed that the water was indeed thermal water, moreover rich in minerals, intriguing his friend who advised contacting the University of Pisa, to Professor Agostini, a great expert on thermal waters who confirmed the value of the water. He was greatly surprised by the geographic area from which it had been collected, the Maremma. It was no coincidence that all the thermal springs in Maremma known until then contained sulfur, while this one did not, thus paving the way for a different story. An ancient, indeed very ancient story, that begins thousands of years ago, as evidenced by core samples taken by the property to establish the origin of the deposits on the travertine, passing through the Etruscans and Romans who refreshed themselves here. We know that in that valley, a Pieve was built by the Aldobrandeschi (a comital family that owned these lands) and that Pope Gregory VII bathed in the adjacent waters. The Pieve remained operational until the middle of the last century, when the Diocese of Pitigliano decided to close it, and with it the epic of the thermal baths which within a few years were abandoned until they were swallowed up by the vegetation. Today, both the Pieve and the thermal spring have been restored to their former glory thanks to renovation works that led to the creation of Terme di Sorano, which officially opened in 2006 and are now an established reality.
