2 days in Bagno Vignoni
I’d read about Bagno Vignoni and the hot springs in Tuscany, and figured I would go as a day trip from the agriturismo. But as has been well-documented in my previous posts, that was not to be.
So when I left, I navigated to Bagno Vignoni and decided to walk into the first hotel I saw and ask if they had availability that night, which, as someone who plans a trip and spreadsheets months ahead, was a WILD proposition. Albergo Le Terme had a room and the staff was so sweet and I stayed for two nights (thanks Mom and Dad!) and wore a robe most of the time, floated in mineral pools and laid in the sun. It was glorious.
The main square is a spring-fed thermal pool surrounded by a handful of restaurants and shops. It was serene. I’ll spare you the poorly lit food photos but I had a nice dinner of pici, a hand-rolled Tuscan pasta, with pecorino, sheep’s milk cheese, guanciale, pork cheek, and pears at Bistrot Languorino. The second night I dined al fresco at Osteria della Madonna and had filetto di cinta senese, pork loin from a specific Tuscan pig.
I don’t know how to work my camera really, so here’s me trying to get the smoke coming off the hot water in the morning chill. The water comes out of the spring at 52 C (125 F!)
Borage <3 xoxo
Bagni di San Filippo
About 20 minutes drive from Bagno Vignoni are the publicly accessible San Filippo springs. All my Little Mermaid dreams came true. I met a lovely couple from the U.S. in one of the pools and we chatted for a bit - they were heading to the South of France after Tuscany for the one guy’s work as a professional choreographer! I won’t name names but he has a Wikipedia page. So I shared a warm pool of sulfur water with a celebrity.
It only smelled like rotten eggs if you dug into the sand at the bottom. And you know I did because I’m 5 years old.
Last year around this time, I was so pumped to find out from our tree scientist friend that we had a lilac tree in the yard. It wasn’t blooming yet. This year, I’m taking close ups of lilacs in Tuscany. The point is that you can always find flowers.
I forgot about all the cats in Italy posing for tourists.