Arts and humanities

Lecture by Professor Gian Luca Gregori, Sapienza University of Rome

This lecture, lasting approximately two hours, is dedicated to one of Italy’s most significant archaeological discoveries of the past fifty years.
In 2019, the Italian Ministry of Culture, the University of Siena, and the municipality of the spa town of San Casciano dei Bagni undertook excavations at the site of a large thermal pool (il bagno grande) located within the ancient local sanctuary. The results were not long in coming: in 2022, the discovery of more than twenty bronze statues dating from the 2nd–1st centuries B.C. made headlines due to the objects’ excellent state of preservation and their beauty.

These statues were part of a vibrant religious environment, as evidenced by inscriptions, anatomical votive offerings, and coins. This devotion was linked to the healing properties of these pools. The deities of health, Hygieia and Apollo, are depicted, but this is not the site’s only contribution; through its epigraphy, it allows us to understand the life and organization of a society about which literary sources provide little information. This material is currently being studied, and Professor Gianluca Gregori is sharing with us findings that are still partially unpublished.