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THERMAL ARCHAEOLOGY |
  
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| Thermal archaeology in Latium is unparalleled in other regions: in the province of Rieti there are the remains of the Thermae (Thermae Cotilia) built by Titus and Vespasian near Cotilia. At Cottorella (Thermae Cottorella), also in the province of Rieti, health-seeking visitors included the Emperor Vespasian, Pope Gregory IX and Marcantonio Colonna. Others preferred the Thermae at Viterbo, fed by the immense richness of health-giving fumes and waters that bubbled to the surface as in a dramatically dantesque vision. The Thermae at Bagnaccio, also known by the Etruscans, were praised by the Romans who called them Aquae Passeris. The poet Martial advised a friend to bathe in the pools there to rid himself of all his troubles: "Sic tibi blandientur undae". From Tuscia to Ciociaria: at the end of the seventeenth century, Giovanni Maria Lancisi spoke of what we now know as the Terme di Pompeo in his De Noxiis Paladum Effluviis. History books are full of references to Fiuggi which cures the "mal di pietra" with its waters. It is well-known that, thanks to that health-giving source, Pope Boniface VIII was cured of a stone in the bladder that had brought him to death's door. At Cassino the springs flow from the great deposit of the Liri-Garigliano Basin; they bear the name of Marcus Varro (Thermae Varroniane) who was the first to exploit these mineral waters. From the mountains to the sea. Just a few kilometres from the mouth of the Garigliano lies Suio Terme, an old river port that served the town of Minturno. Here too it was the Romans who discovered the magic healing powers of the waters.
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