Roman Baths - Springs of Triponzo
To be visited
The springs of Triponzo, located at the foot of Mount Fregino, on the hydrographic right of the Nera River close to the village of Triponzo, have been known and used since antiquity.
Here sulphurous thermo-mineral waters at the temperature of 31°C emerge from caves lined with stalactites and concretions of calcium carbonate and sulphate; with the decreasing pressure, the carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide dissolved in the water become gaseous, giving the water its characteristic whitish colour.
The healing waters were already known by the Romans, who built a thermal bath here. Most likely Virgil referred to them in the Aeneid, when describing the Nera river as "white with sulphurous water" (amnis sulphurea Nar albus acqua).
In 488 the thermal establishment was purchased by the municipality of Norcia for 151 gold florins, to then pass to P. Forti and finally to the bishop of Norcia Bucchi-Accica, who donated it to the Municipality of Cerreto.
In the 1800s the thermal waters were considered a "heroic remedy" for intestinal affections, urinary concretions, arthritis and "for all sordid skin diseases" (S. Purgotti, 1862). In order to make the most of their curative properties, a new thermal complex was built in 1887, with several pools and a long building with a portico, called The Baths of Triponzo.
Following excavation and channeling works carried out between the 1930s and 1940s during the construction of the Valnerina hydroelectric plants, the flow rate of the springs was drastically reduced. Nonetheless, the baths continued to be frequented, but from 1970 they suffered progressive abandonment, aggravated by the 1979 earthquake. In 1985 the Municipality of Cerreto di Spoleto started a recovery project of the Triponzo Baths, entrusting the works to a private enterprise.
The 1997 earthquake interrupted the works, plunging the complex back into oblivion. Finally in 2016 the thermal establishment was renovated, expanded and reopened to the public.
For further information: https://www.iluoghidelsilenzio.it/terme-di-triponzo/
