Balnevia
The entrance to the Grotta Giusti thermal cave at Monsummano Terme

Monsummano Terme/Italy

Grotta Giusti Thermal Spa Resort

A nineteenth-century thermal cave in Tuscany, discovered by quarry workers and later described by Giuseppe Verdi as the eighth wonder of the world.

Photo: Fluctuat, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)

Bathing
Indoor / Outdoor
Established
1849
Accommodation
Hotel on site

In 1849 workers quarrying on the Giusti family estate at Monsummano Terme broke into a large natural cavern filled with warm vapour and an underground thermal lake. The cave was developed into a spa in the 1850s, and the three descending chambers — named Paradise, Purgatory and Inferno for their rising heat — remain the centrepiece.

Balnevia view

Why visit

Nowhere else combines a natural steam cave, an underground thermal lake and a nineteenth-century villa hotel in quite this way; the cave visit is unlike any built sauna.

The water

Thermal water

Source
Grotta Giusti cave lake
Mineralisation
Sulphate-bicarbonate-calcium water
Character
A natural cave with graded vapour chambers and an underground thermal lake.

Practical information

Location

Monsummano Terme, Italy43.8720, 10.8090View on Balnevia map

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