Lomography

Saturnia
written by -a-l-b-e-r-t-o- on May 30th, 2009 , 5 comments (9 votes)

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Saturnia is located in southern Tuscany, midway between Rome and Florence and it is part of the Maremma, a secluded natural paradise. Thousands of people flock to enjoy the waters which maintain a constant luxurious temperature. The thermal waters are channeled into a series of natural pools carved out of rock and fed by a magnificent waterfall.

This remarkable free of charge pool provides the perfect scenery for a relaxing bath, where you can simply envelope yourself in the beauty of nature, enjoying the warm water surrounded by a rich green countryside and calmed by the sounds of the cascading waterfall. You’ll also see people in bathing suits or street clothes, standing or sitting in the stream, rubbing water over their bodies and slapping mud on their faces, having themselves a completely free-of-charge health treatment.

In winter, families arrive by car from all over Italy and throw off fur coats and down jackets before plunging into these hot blue waters in a steamy scenario somewhere between Dante’s ’’Inferno’’ and a Fellini film. Ample grandmothers sit gossiping in circles with baby grandchildren splashing on their knees; young people lounge in the natural pools, jets of water punching them from all sides. Children screaming with glee jump from the rocks into the deepest pool at the bottom. We even saw a poodle, perched on a rocky ledge, unperturbed by the hot torrents. But If you arrive early enough in the morning you can even have the cascades all for yourself.

Someone will tell you ’’Have some mud”. The sides of the stream that erupts into the waterfall are covered in a smooth gray mud and people spread on their faces like masks, or all over their bodies. The mud quickly cakes in the sun, after which it can be washed off under one of the strong cascades. The smell of bad eggs wears off after two hours. In spring and summer we drive to Saturnia after a late night out and we lie in the hot pools watching the sunrise above the steam.