Free thermal baths in Italy: where to bathe without a ticket

In Italy, thermal water that comes out of a natural spring and gathers in an open-air pool does not always have a gate in front of it. There are only a few places, almost all in Tuscany, Lazio and on the islands, where bathing is free, with no opening hours and no staff. For the same reason there are no changing rooms, showers, toilets or lifeguards: you bring your own towel and water shoes, and you take your rubbish home. Here you will find the places where free access is documented, with temperature, road and rules. For baths with an entrance fee, go to the page on Tuscany's thermal baths; for the rules of behaviour in thermal pools, see the page on health.

Free hot springs at a glance

Temperatures from Regione Toscana, tourist boards and local guides; the water in open-air pools varies with rain and with the level of the stream.

Tuscany: Saturnia, San Filippo, Petriolo, San Casciano

Cascate del Mulino (Saturnia)

This is the best-known free bathing spot in Italy. The sulphurous water comes out at 37.5 °C, falls over travertine steps and fills natural pools a few kilometres from Manciano. According to the Regione Toscana portal, access is free all year; the address is Strada Vicinale Molino del Bagno 9/a, 58014 Saturnia, and the coordinates are 42.6483 N, 11.5127 E. In 2019 the municipality, through the mayor Mirco Morini, reaffirmed that the area remains public; the road is a public-use private lane. Among the ordinances published by the municipality of Manciano up to 6 November 2026 there is none concerning the Cascate del Mulino (the recent ones are about parking bans in Manciano and Montemerano and roadworks); the municipal portal lists no parking charges for the area.

Next door, with an entrance fee, is the Terme di Saturnia Natural Spa complex, described on the page about Tuscan thermal baths. The best season is winter: the water stays at 37.5 °C and the steam can be seen from afar, but on summer weekends the pools are crowded. Bring water shoes, as the stones are slippery, and do not use soap in the pools.

Fosso Bianco (Bagni San Filippo)

Bagni San Filippo is a hamlet of Castiglione d'Orcia, on the slopes of Monte Amiata. The water comes out at about 48 °C. The woods are crossed by a footpath that leads to the Balena Bianca (White Whale), a waterfall of white limestone deposited by the water, and to a series of pools along the Fosso Bianco. The stream can only be reached from via San Filippo, the road towards the Rovinati farmstead; the starting coordinates are 42.9267 N, 11.7007 E.

The rule to know is set out by the regional portal: the Balena Bianca may only be looked at, it is forbidden to touch it, walk on it or bathe near it. You bathe in the nearby pools, where the regional guide recommends staying about 30 minutes. For services, changing rooms and indoor pools there is the private Terme San Filippo spa (bagnisanfilippoterme.it), with an entrance fee.

Terme di Petriolo

Between Monticiano (province of Siena) and Civitella Paganico (Grosseto), along the Farma stream, sulphurous water comes out at 43 °C, runs down in little cascades and fills small limestone pools on the bank and in the riverbed. As it mixes with the cold river water its temperature drops, so you only need to move a few pools along to find your own. Coordinates: 43.0793 N, 11.2998 E; address Strada Provinciale di Petriolo, 53015 Monticiano. The springs were known in Roman times and the complex was fortified by the Sienese in 1404. Here bathing is free, while the nearby thermal spa has its own ticket. The area lies between the Farma and Basso Merse nature reserves: the woods are the only shelter, so bring drinking water.

San Casciano dei Bagni

At the foot of the medieval village of San Casciano dei Bagni, in the Valdichiana, the regional portal points to free pools, many of Roman origin, with water up to 40 °C. The best known is a triangular stone pool; nearby there are a covered wash-house and a large collecting basin called the "caldagna". Look for the signs in the village (coordinates of the village: 42.8703 N, 11.8767 E).

Bagno Vignoni: look, don't enter

Anyone looking for the central pool of Bagno Vignoni should be warned: the large sixteenth-century "square of water", where the water rises at about 49 °C, can no longer be used for bathing ("it is no longer possible to immerse yourself", writes the regional portal). You look at it, walk around it and go down to the Parco dei Mulini, where four mills carved into the rock, already mentioned in the Charta Libertatis of 1207, worked with hot water at a constant temperature, even in summer. To bathe you need one of the three hotels with thermal pools (Terme Spa & Resort, Hotel La Posta, Hotel Adler). Coordinates of the village: 43.0279 N, 11.6183 E. At Hotel La Posta the bath is also open to non-guests (day ticket 55 euros, evening 45 at weekends from April to October): see Tuscan thermal baths.

Lazio: Piscine Carletti and Bullicame, Viterbo

The sulphurous water of the Viterbo basin comes out at 58-60 °C. At the Piscine Carletti, along the Strada Bagni towards Tuscania, the first pools take water directly from the spring and are too hot to enter straight away; the others are at around 30 °C and suit everyone. Entry is free and with no opening hours, even at night, but there is no lighting: bring a torch. Parking near the pools is free and unattended; the route: SS2 Cassia to Viterbo, SS675 ring road, exit Viterbo Centro, Strada dei Bagni, past the Air Force base and carry on for about 1 kilometre. Without a car, bus line E655 stops at the Terme dei Papi, about 1.5 km on foot. Coordinates: 42.4233 N, 12.1034 E.

There are no facilities, bins or lifeguards; dogs are allowed on the grass but not in the water. Stay 10-15 minutes per pool and do not put your head under in the hottest ones. The Bullicame, west of the historic centre, is the spring that Dante mentions in the Inferno: water at about 58 °C, a stop on the Via Francigena. The paid thermal baths of Viterbo (Terme dei Papi) are on the central and southern Italy page.

Islands: Sorgeto and Pantelleria

Baia di Sorgeto (Ischia)

At Panza, a hamlet of Forio, the springs rise from the ground at about 90 °C and mix with the sea: the water in the bay reaches about 37 °C and you can bathe even in winter. The thermal park is free and open all year; you go down about 200 steps. Above the bay there is a restaurant (via Sorgeto 35, Forio). Wear closed shoes for the staircase, which becomes slippery in the rain. For the rest of the island: page on Ischia.

Pantelleria

On the island of Pantelleria there are four bathing spots: the Lago Specchio di Venere (waters from 35 to 60 °C depending on the source, mud on the south shore), Cala Gadir (pools in the rock at 40-55 °C), the Grotta di Sateria (up to about 40 °C) and the Grotta di Benikulà, a natural sauna at about 40 °C. The lake is inside the National Park and is covered by a mayor's ordinance, signed on 29 June, to protect the cyanobacteria stromatolites. Forbidden: parking on the spot, planting beach umbrella poles on the stromatolites, crossing the southern part of the lake, trampling, leaving rubbish. Allowed: walking on the dirt road, swimming, spreading towels on ground without vegetation. In 2021 the Sicilian Region announced works worth 1.5 million euros to consolidate the walls above the roads leading to the lake and to Cala Gadir.

Mainland Sicily: the Bagni di Segesta

Between Calatafimi Segesta, Alcamo and Castellammare del Golfo, along the Caldo river, sulphurous water comes out at 44-47 °C and fills natural pools where you can enter for free. The route follows a path with almost no tarmac and you often cross the river on foot: you need water shoes and a spare pair. The side road leading to the car park before the spa is in poor condition: it is better to leave the car on the main road or at the start of the stretch. By car, A29, exit Castellammare. The paid spa, the Terme Segestane (contrada Ponte Bagni), offers mud treatments, caves and inhalations; the Terme Gorga (Alcamo) have water at about 49-52 °C.

Lombardy: the Pozze di Leonardo in Bormio

In the Alta Valtellina, along the road that leads from Bormio to Livigno, a stone pool beside the Braulio stream collects water at 38-41 °C. You leave the car at the side of the road, go down a path through the woods of about ten minutes and cross a footbridge without a handrail, which is not suitable if you suffer from vertigo. It is free and can be visited all year, but in winter the path is slippery and unlit: hiking shoes, torch, bathrobe. It holds ten people at most. The official springs, with an entrance fee, are at the Bagni Vecchi and the Bagni Nuovi (page on the Alps).

What you won't find: Fordongianus and the Roman baths

The Roman baths of Fordongianus, in Sardinia (sulphurous water at 56 °C, 1st century AD), are an archaeological area next to a modern spa: they are not among the free baths. See the page on the history of thermal baths.

1. Cascate del Mulino, Saturnia: 37.5 °C, free
2. Fosso Bianco, Bagni San Filippo: up to 48 °C, path through the woods
3. Terme di Petriolo: 43 °C, on the Farma
4. San Casciano dei Bagni, free pools: up to 40 °C
5. Bagno Vignoni (no bathing in the pool): 49 °C, to look at only
6. Piscine Carletti, Viterbo: 30-60 °C, open 24 hours
7. Baia di Sorgeto, Panza (Forio): up to 37 °C, 200 steps
8. Bagni di Segesta: 44-47 °C, river ford
9. Lago Specchio di Venere, Pantelleria: 35-60 °C, Park ordinance
10. Pozze di Leonardo, Bormio: 38-41 °C, 10 minutes on foot

Where to stay nearby

For Saturnia and the Cascate del Mulino: Saturnia and Manciano. For San Filippo and Bagno Vignoni: Castiglione d'Orcia and Pienza. For Petriolo: Monticiano and Civitella Paganico. For San Casciano: San Casciano, Sarteano and Cetona. For the Piscine Carletti: Viterbo. For Sorgeto: Panza and Forio. For the Pozze di Leonardo: Bormio. For the regions: Tuscany, Lazio, Sicily, Campania.