Giulio makes us know one of the most suggestive and best preserved medieval Tuscan villages.
This village presents a singularity: the various activities, the houses and the church stand around the sixteenth-century basin in which the waters of a thermal spring flow from the volcanic ground.

So the basin carries out the function normally done by the main square of a village.

Some note:
The village is inserted in the Parco Artistico Naturale della Val d’Orcia.
The place was already known in Etruscan and Roman age for the hot Sulphur waters springing from a volcanic stratum.
In the Middle Ages it was the destination of the pilgrims who wanted to rest while walking along the Via Francigena.
Important figures chose this village as holiday resort: among the others Pope Pio II, Caterina da Siena and Lorenzo il Magnifico.
The waters flowing out of the basin canalize toward the steep bank of the Parco Naturale dei Mulini. Here there are four medieval mills dig into the rock, very important at that time for the local economy because the thermal spring assured the working also in summer, whereas other mills of the area had to stop due to the dry rivers.

For more info:
wikipedia Bagno_Vignoni
www.parcodellavaldorcia.com (EN)

Thank to our friend Giulio for the beautiful photographs