Bagni Caldi is the most charming valley i have ever seen especially when you look down on the village from a terrace in Bagni Alti and the cypress trees make a dark green.You can see a bridge seems as if it has been dropped unto a stream called the Lima,which cuts in two the village.Thrown into two extremities with mild waterfalls that seem to gnetly whisper with the echo of whats going on around. But the charm of the valley above all is that si that it’s not too big or too small, the soul who looks at it is not overwhelmed but is in harmony with the beautiful landscape and all the mountain peaks like all the Apennine range,which don’t have the ungainly form and gothic sublime.From the caricature of the mountain which Germany is full of like a caricature of men that seem to form nobel models of bright green, a superior civilization, to agree in harmony with the pale blu sky. That’s how Heinrich Heine describes Bagni di Lucca in her novel “Reiser Bilder” published in 1829/30 when she stayed in Bagni Caldi for a month from the 28thaugust to the end of september were she found the merry company in the marquis Gumpelino in Matilde,Letizia,Francesca and in Lady Maxfield. In 1849 husband and wife Browning wrote during their stay; that it seemed to be in an eagles nest, in the highest house in the highest of three villages…The sound of the water and the singing of the cicade are the only noises we hear.

The History
To get to Bagni Caldi is very easy from the square of Ponte a Serraglio,go upwards to Bagni Bernabò, go on ahead until one reaches an archway called ‘dello Spiffero’ which leads to a square called Piazza San Martino this is the most populated area of Bagni Caldi.Here theres a large piece of the Hotel Savoia made between the 14th and 18th centuries, on the right hand side of the archway there are traces of a painting of the Virgin Mary with child dated to the 16th century.From the square of San Martino theres a steep pathway that brings to the thermal spa, on the right is visable a coat of arms belonging to the Della Lena family, until 1685 it was above the door of the attuale town hall. The church of San Martino is found at the end of the steps, it was built in 1292 by Jacopo di Puccio and modified in 1800 under the ducal government.Today it is undergoing a complete ristruction.There is also an old residence of the grandduke, which later the Great Alberto delle R.R.Terme,planted ginko biloba in it’s park and can still be found today.This residence was a summer home to the grandduke of Tuscany Leopoldo II of Lorena and his wife from1850.The wife of the grandduke Maria Antonietta liked the village so much that she stayed from spring to autumn.A legend says that the grandduke ordered to fire a cannon at midday everyday so the population knew what time it was.The 21st august 1851 the family left Bagni Caldi to return to Florence ,in the square of the village a choir accompanied by a band dedicated a serenade of Gugnemer to the grandduke and his wife.From Bagni Caldi its possible to go up towards the Parades(il Paretaio),the church of the S.S Annunziata which was built in 1469 wanted by Matteo Della Lena ti was ruined by the earthquake in 1920 rebuilt and payed for by Archimede Nannini in 1962.One goes on to find the hill(il colle) which is made up of a group of houses,the most antique population of Corsena.From here theres a wonderful view and once again Heine writes"i eat up hundreds of miles night and day to see only one mountain in Scotland,butnothing compares to Italy.Do you like this district?What splendour! Look at the trees,the mountains,the sky and down there the water looks like a picture!Have you ever seen something so beautiful in theatre?Here we become poets,we make up verses and we don’t know now"From the hill along a straight pathway passing through a wood of chestnut and oaktrees one arrives at a round construction called Round Hill(Rotonda del Colle),in the middle of the 800’s it had alot of special visitors like Father Alexander Dumas,the pasha Mohamed Ali and the hungarian exile Colonel Sàndor Teleky. Then one finally arrives to the church dedicated to the Chiesina degli Alpini built in 1951.Going back one can take the path to the left to Ponte a Serraglio or the one to the right to Corsena and the Villa(Bagni di Lucca).This road takes one to a pathway called Lover’s Path(Via dell’amore) there is a most sublime landscape and still life.