Tuscany · Siena
San Casciano dei Bagni
A hilltop borgo at 582 meters above 42 hot springs that produced the largest Etruscan bronze hoard of the last fifty years.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why San Casciano dei Bagni is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Bandiera Arancione and Città del Vino.
The nearest town with a letter is Radicofani, No. 45, 22 min by car.
Subscribe and you get San Casciano dei Bagni's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- All year
- By car
- 1 h 6 min from Perugia
- Population
- 1,421
When to visit
Best · All year
- J8°
- F11°
- M12°
- A16°
- M21°
- J26°
- J31°
- A30°
- S24°
- O19°
- N13°
- D10°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
San Casciano dei Bagni sits at 582 meters at the southern edge of the province of Siena, above 42 hot springs that average 42 degrees Celsius. The baths were used continuously from Etruscan through Roman times and again from the Renaissance, when visitors came from across Europe. In 2022, an excavation that began in 2019 at the ancient sanctuary turned up 24 bronze votive statues protected by mud, with around 6,000 coins in gold, silver and bronze.
The find was the largest of its kind in fifty years; most surviving Etruscan votive material is terracotta. The 1,421 residents live on a basalt outcrop above the Roman thermal complex, in a centro storico of stone houses and three small churches. The borgo joined the Borghi più belli network in 2014 and remains one of the smallest communes in Toscana to carry both that label and Bandiera Arancione.
How to get there
From Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 2 h 14 min by car.
Ancona (AOI) is about 2 h 40 min away.
By car from the center of Perugia 1 h 6 min, Siena 1 h 28 min or Florence 1 h 43 min.
Coming by train into Perugia? San Casciano dei Bagni is about 1 h 3 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Santuario Ritrovato
Etruscan-Roman thermal sanctuary excavated since 2019, where 24 bronze votives and around 6,000 coins were recovered in 2022.
Bagno Grande
The principal natural pool of the 42 hot springs, used from the second century BC through the Renaissance and reopened to the public.
Collegiata di San Leonardo
Romanesque parish church in the centro storico, restored in the seventeenth century, with a baptismal font carved from local travertine.
Centro storico
Stone borgo on a basalt outcrop above the springs, encircled by medieval walls and stitched with stepped alleys.
From the guides
Where to eat and stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Castello di FighineRistorante
Castello di Fighine has two Gambero Rosso forks (84/100) to its name.
DanielaRistorante
Daniela holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Fonteverde Thermal Spa ResortHotel
Fonteverde Thermal Spa Resort has a Leading Hotels of the World listing to its name.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
San Casciano dei Bagni is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,421. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Città della Pieve, is 27 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Arezzo, a city of 96,479, is 1 h 12 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 1,421, down 12.4% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Arezzo, 1 h 12 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Acquapendente, 12 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €740 to €1,050 per m² to buy, €2.40 to €3.30 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 81% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Perugia airport (PEG), 1 h 15 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 1 h 43 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Ukraine and North Macedonia, against 9% across Italy. 10 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany. There are 529 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 49% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Siena province ranks 21st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Acquapendente, 12 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Perugia, 52 km away. The nearest IB school is Viterbo International School, 54 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €10,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Tuscany spends about €2,410 a month, €540 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €770 a year for water, on the Tuscany average. In Siena, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.28, a meal in a pizzeria €17.81 and a man's haircut €25.49.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 10% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Thermal baths in town: Bagno Bossolo, San Casciano dei Bagni.
Known for
FORTY-TWO SPRINGS
Hot springs averaging 42 degrees Celsius, used from the second century BC and developed into a Roman thermal sanctuary.
THE BRONZES
24 Etruscan bronze votive statues found in 2022 with 6,000 coins, the largest Italic bronze find of the last fifty years.
BORGHI PIÙ BELLI
Joined the Borghi più belli d'Italia network in 2014, one of Italy's smallest communes to carry the label alongside Bandiera Arancione.
Common questions
- What is San Casciano dei Bagni known for?
- San Casciano dei Bagni is a hilltop borgo at 582 meters above 42 hot springs that produced the largest Etruscan bronze hoard of the last fifty years.
- Where is San Casciano dei Bagni?
- San Casciano dei Bagni is a comune in the province of Siena, in Tuscany.
- What is the nearest airport to San Casciano dei Bagni?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Perugia (PEG), about 1 h 15 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Perugia to San Casciano dei Bagni?
- About 1 h 6 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit San Casciano dei Bagni?
- Any month of the year works. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like San Casciano dei Bagni?
- Acquasanta Terme, Caramanico Terme and Casperia.
- How many people live in San Casciano dei Bagni?
- 1,421 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is San Casciano dei Bagni a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, San Casciano dei Bagni is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Città della Pieve, is 27 min away. The nearest city, Arezzo, is 1 h 12 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Acquapendente, 12 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 81% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 582 m
- Population: 1,421
- Surface area: 92.14 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists San Casciano dei Bagni appears in
- The 6 best towns on a walking route that eat well in the province of SienaSiena provinceon a walking routeeats well6 towns · smallest 1,421 residents
- The best hot spring towns in the province of SienaSiena provincehot springs6 towns · smallest 1,421 residents
- The best small towns on a walking route in the province of SienaSiena provinceon a walking routesmall6 towns · smallest 1,044 residents
- The best small towns with a serious restaurant in the province of SienaSiena provinceserious restaurantsmall6 towns · smallest 1,137 residents
- The best towns worth staying overnight that eat well within 90 minutes of PerugiaNear Perugiawithin 90 mineats wellworth staying overnight6 towns · smallest 1,421 residents · closest 35 min away
- The best hot spring towns worth staying overnight in TuscanyTuscanyhot springsworth staying overnight7 towns · smallest 1,421 residents
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 45.
Radicofani
Province: Siena
The Val d'Orcia's basalt watchtower: a 1,044-resident UNESCO-inscribed borgo at 814m on a volcanic outcrop visible across half of southern Tuscany, crowned by an outlaw's fortress that Dante and Boccaccio both wrote into their pages.
22 min by car
- Written about. No. 74.
Allerona
Province: Terni
A stone borgo at 472 meters between the Paglia valley and the Valdichiana, an Orvieto outpost whose Monaldeschi castle fell to Charles V.
27 min by car
- Written about. No. 78.
Città della Pieve
Province: Perugia
A red-brick hill town at 508 meters above the Valdichiana, the birthplace of Perugino and the home of one of Italy's narrowest alleys.
27 min by car
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 40 km away
Umbria: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Umbria guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: Two banks, no sea. 21 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.