Bronze Treasures of San Casciano dei Bagni

In the summer of 2023, the Palazzo del Quirinale hosted an exhibition that marked one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the twenty-first century. Titled Gli dei ritornano: i bronzi di San Casciano, the exhibition presented to a national and international audience an extraordinary group of bronze statues and votive offerings recovered from the thermal sanctuary at Bagno Grande, near San Casciano dei Bagni in southern Tuscany. Ancient Rome Live filmed the finds on the occasion of the Quirinale exhibition, capturing a moment when objects long hidden beneath thermal waters re-entered cultural memory.

The site of San Casciano dei Bagni has been associated with healing waters since antiquity. Long before the Roman conquest, the Etruscans recognized the curative and sacred power of the local hot springs. Archaeological evidence now demonstrates that the sanctuary functioned continuously from at least the third century BCE into the Imperial Roman period, making it a rare example of religious continuity across the Etruscan–Roman transition. The sanctuary was structured around a monumental thermal basin fed by naturally heated springs, where offerings were deposited directly into the water as part of ritual practice.

Systematic archaeological excavation at Bagno Grande began in 2019 and is directed by Jacopo Tabolli of the Università per Stranieri di Siena, with field direction by Emanuele Mariotti and oversight by Ada Salvi of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio. In October 2022, the excavation team announced the recovery of exceptional bronze statuary from the basin and surrounding deposits. The initial group comprised more than twenty life-size and smaller bronzes, preserved in remarkable condition due to the unique microclimate created by the thermal waters and mineral-rich mud.

Unlike many bronze finds from antiquity, which survive as isolated fragments or later reburials, the San Casciano statues were discovered in primary ritual context. The bronzes include representations of deities associated with healing and protection, as well as human dedicants who commissioned offerings in gratitude for cures or in hope of divine intervention. Their surfaces retain fine details, inscriptions, and traces of ancient repair, allowing scholars to study not only artistic production but also long-term cult use.

Equally important is the wealth of associated material. Hundreds of coins spanning several centuries attest to the sanctuary’s sustained popularity, while votives, small bronzes, and inscribed stone elements illuminate the lived experience of ancient illness and recovery. Particularly significant is the corpus of inscriptions, written in both Etruscan and Latin, which preserves personal names, divine epithets, and formulas of dedication. Together, these texts provide rare insight into bilingual religious practice and the social diversity of worshippers at a thermal sanctuary.

Ongoing excavation continues to refine understanding of the site. Recent campaigns have clarified the architectural layout of the sanctuary and expanded the votive assemblage, including the discovery of an agathodaemon (a large bronze serpent and protective spirit associated with water, health, and fertility). Such finds reinforce the interpretation of San Casciano as a place where healing, divination, and communal identity converged.

Following its debut at the Quirinale, the exhibition entered a traveling phase, with venues across Italy and abroad allowing wider audiences to encounter the bronzes. Italian cultural authorities have announced the creation of a permanent on-site museum at San Casciano dei Bagni, where the bronzes will eventually return to their landscape of origin, presented within an archaeological park context that integrates excavation, conservation, and public engagement.

Bibliography:

• “Bronze Snakes and Perfectly Intact Eggs among Treasures Found at Ancient Italian Thermal Spa.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/dec/04/bronze-snakes-and-perfectly-intact-eggs-among-treasures-found-at-ancient-italian-thermal-spa
• Parker, Christopher. (2023). “Found in Ancient Spa, Stunningly Preserved Bronze Statues Go on View in Rome.” Smithsonian. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bronze-statues-exhibition-rome-180982421/
• Poggioli, Sylvia. (2022). Discovery of Ancient Bronze Statues in Italy May rewrite Etruscan and Roman History. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/03/1138904735/italy-ancient-bronze-statues-discovery-tuscany
• Povoledo, Elisabetta. (2023). “These Bronze Statues Reveal Ancient Healing Rituals.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/arts/design/ancient-bronzes-italy-san-casciano-dei-bagni.html