Terme Bagni di Lucca - November 16, 2011

Terme Bagni di Lucca

Well, this just goes to show that hot spring pools vary incredibly from one to another.

I got my sister to come along with me to Bagni di Lucca on a Wednesday morning in mid November. I told her along the way that I thought it was a smaller pool than the others, and she said that was ok, she was game for a drive in the countryside and a soak in hot water.  I realized that she was right when we turned off the A11  tollway at Capannori (near Lucca) and drove into the hills along the Serchio River on the state highway SS12. It is a  beautiful, steep valley with scenery like this:

Il Ponte della Maddelena, also known as the Ponte del Diavolo - the Devil's Bridge

And this:

The town of Bagni di Lucca

SS12 passes directly through the town of Bagni di Lucca on its way from Lucca to Modena. It takes about an hour and a half to drive there from Florence.  You arrive in the town, low down in the valley, dark and a little oppressive, then cross a bridge, and enter a piazza where you must take a left turn which heads up the hill. The road is windy and narrow, and climbs out of the gloom and up the hillside. After about a mile you arrive in the upper part of the town where you can park either in the piazza, or in the parking lot of the hotel where the pool is located.

The piazza of the upper part of Bagni di Lucca, where the pool is located.

The pool is located inside the hotel Antico Albergo Terme, and you pay your ticket at the front desk. The dressing room is very small, with lockers and a shower. If you want to bring anything onto the pool deck, you'll have to walk back through the reception area of the hotel, so this is a good reason to have your bathrobe and flip flops with you. Otherwise you can leave everything in the dressing room, and enter the pool directly.

The pool itself is indoors and quite small. My sister and I had it all to ourselves for the hour we were there, which was nice. The water is 89.6° Fahrenheit; warm, not hot. There is one spot where the water enters the pool, and it is warmer there. The water is clear with no distinctive mineral odor. There is only a bit of mineral build up on the sides of the pool. There are sprays and jets for massage. There are windows on 2 sides, and decks with chairs on them outside.

The pool



All in all it was quite pleasant, but not as spectacular as the larger complexes. It didn't give me that "I'm coming back!" feeling, but who knows, I may just return someday, if I'm in the area and need a soak.

The streams of Bagni di Lucca are sulfuric-bicarbonate-calcium rich waters.  The "Doccione" spring exits the ground at 129° Fahrenheit.

Bagni di Lucca

Terme Bagni di Lucca
Piazza San Martino, 11  

55021 Bagni di Lucca - LU
Tel: +39 0583 87221

www.termebagnidilucca.it