What is Rapolano Terme known for?

Calcium-sulphur-bicarbonate springs at 38 degrees, two historic facilities, in business since the eighteenth century. Mined at Serre di Rapolano since the 1500s, supplied the Tempio di San Biagio at Montepulciano and the façade of the Pienza Duomo. Giuseppe Garibaldi recovered at the Terme Antica Querciolaia from the wounds sustained in the 1862 battle at Aspromonte.

When is the best time to visit Rapolano Terme?

All year. Thermal towns work year-round and Rapolano is the rare Sienese commune where winter is a season. The pools at Antica Querciolaia and San Giovanni stay open through the cold months and the steam off the 38-degree water against the December clay hills is the postcard the spa industry sells. April through June and September into October are the wider best months, with the Crete Senesi at full color and the surrounding wine and olive harvests pulling traffic through the centro. July and August are hot inland; the outdoor pools fill by mid-morning and the thermal pleasure shifts to evening. February brings the Carnevale di Rapolano, one of the older costumed celebrations in the Sienese province.

Where is Rapolano Terme?

Rapolano Terme is a comune in the province of Siena, Tuscany region of Italy, about 79 kilometers from Perugia.

How do I get to Rapolano Terme?

From Perugia, Rapolano Terme is roughly 79 km by road.

Tuscany · Siena

Rapolano Terme

A Sienese thermal town of 38-degree calcium-sulphur waters and travertine quarries feeding facades beyond its borders.

Known for

THERMAL WATERS
Calcium-sulphur-bicarbonate springs at 38 degrees, two historic facilities, in business since the eighteenth century.
TRAVERTINE
Mined at Serre di Rapolano since the 1500s, supplied the Tempio di San Biagio at Montepulciano and the façade of the Pienza Duomo.
GARIBALDI
Giuseppe Garibaldi recovered at the Terme Antica Querciolaia from the wounds sustained in the 1862 battle at Aspromonte.

When to visit

Best · All year

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Assunzione di Maria, 15 August

Why come

The comune sits on the eastern edge of the clay hills, twenty kilometers east of Siena. It was called simply Rapolano until 1949, when the spa industry pushed the name change, a shift that marks how thoroughly the waters came to define the place. The thermal facilities and the quarry sit at some distance from each other within the comune: the springs rise near the centro and to its south, while the travertine beds lie in the Serre frazione three kilometers further out, a separate settlement built around the stone rather than the water.

The medieval centro storico, meanwhile, holds no thermal or mineral history at all: a fortified perimeter, a Sienese-period castello on the highest point, and a parish church founded in the eleventh century, all predating the spa industry by centuries. The clay-hill landscape spreads north and west of the comune, and draws most visitors past the spa itself. What emerges is a town built on two extractive industries, water and stone, wrapped around an older walled settlement that has little to do with either.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Rapolano Terme’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

What to see

Terme Antica Querciolaia
Six outdoor pools at 38 degrees, the older of the two facilities and the one tied to a general's convalescence.
Terme San Giovanni
Thermal complex south of the centro among the clay hills of the Crete Senesi, with outdoor pools facing vineyards and olive groves.
Cave di travertino di Serre
Active quarries in the Serre di Rapolano frazione three kilometers south, the source of the stone behind the Pienza Duomo's façade.
Castello di Rapolano
Sienese-period fortress on the highest point of the centro storico, ruined but visible, anchoring the medieval perimeter walls.
Pieve di Sant'Andrea
Parish church inside the medieval walls of Rapolano, founded in the eleventh century, with later interventions through the Sienese centuries.
Crete Senesi
Clay-hill landscape north and west of the comune, with the cypress lines and isolated farmhouses that define the visual postcard of inland Toscana.

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Living here

Population 5,072
Commuter belti
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Bologna, 2 h 17 min drive
Regional capital Firenze, 1 h 17 min drive

Thermal baths in town: Terme Antica Querciolaia, Terme San Giovanni, Rapolano Terme.

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 334 m
Population: 5,072
Surface area: 83.04 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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