What is Acquasanta Terme known for?

Thermal water surfaces at 30 degrees and has been used for cures since the consul Lucio Munazio Planco came in 50 AD. The only Marche commune inside the national park, with 138 square kilometers of forested ridges and 75 scattered frazioni. Open thermal stream above town, where sulphur water meets the Tronto warm enough to bathe in through winter.

Where is Acquasanta Terme?

Acquasanta Terme is a comune in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Marche region of Italy, about 111 kilometers from Pescara.

Marche · Ascoli Piceno

Acquasanta Terme

A sulphur-spring spain the upper Tronto valley, used for cures since the Roman consul Lucio Munazio Planco around 50 AD.

111 km / 69 mi

Nearest hub (Pescara)

2,494

Population

All year

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Parco Nazionale

Why come

Acquasanta Terme sitsin the upper Tronto valley, fifteen kilometers from Ascoli Piceno, inside the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga and pressed between the Sibillini to the north and the Laga ridge to the south. The springs are sulphur and sulphate, surfacing at 30 degrees, used for cures since the first century: the Roman consul Lucio Munazio Planco came here around 50 AD after Tuscan treatments failed him, and the first pools were cut into the rock then. The Vurghe, a thermal stream a kilometer above town, still runs into the Tronto warm enough to swim through in February. The town gives its name to the surrounding mountain commune, 138 square kilometers of forested ridges and 75 frazioni scattered along the valley walls. The 2016 earthquake damaged the older parts of the centro storico but the spa and the springs remain working.

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Gallery

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Known for

Terme di Acquasanta
Sulphur and sulphate spa complex fed by springs that emerge at 30 degrees, used since the first century AD and rebuilt across the centuries on the same site.
Lu Vurghe
Open thermal stream a kilometer above town, where sulphur water joins the Tronto and remains warm enough for winter bathing.
Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga
The commune is the only Marche entry point to the national park, with hiking routes into the Laga ridge and the Tronto headwaters.
Chiesa di San Francesco
Medieval parish church in the centro storico, with stonework from the thirteenth century and post-earthquake restoration completed in stages.

When to visit

Best months · All year

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

Acquasanta Terme works year-round because the spa and the open Vurghe stream both run hot in every season. April through October is the best window for combining baths with hikes into the Laga ridge and the Tronto headwaters. June through August can touch the high twenties in the valley floor, but the springs and the shaded woodlands stay cool. November through March is the quiet season locals prefer: thermal pools indoors, snow on the Laga above 1,500 meters, and the chestnut woods bare across the slopes. The post-earthquake centro storico is still being rebuilt in places; check ahead for which streets are open.